Predictions on Parliament

Written By: - Date published: 10:29 pm, May 26th, 2008 - 9 comments
Categories: national - Tags:

Editorial Cartoon, NZ Herald © 2005 May 26 - NZ Parliament BuildingWe’ve seen many of the commentators suggest that National is coming up short on policy proposals after the Budget last week. What I’ll be looking for is whether Mr Key takes his attack to the PM and Michael Cullen in the House tomorrow. The hints continue to be that tax cuts will be larger and skewed towards those on high incomes:

As Vernon Small notes:

“National leader John Key is hinting his party will bring in tax cuts sooner than Labour’s second round in 2010 – and that they will be bigger. He also signalled National is looking at singling out higher earners”

Let’s hope that Mr Key puts his “slippery as a snake in wet grass” tag to one side, and that he shows some of the leadership we expect from a would-be PM.

I’m tempted to predict that National will also use its other oral questions this week to present where they would place their spending priorities, therefore giving us an indication of where the money required to fund additional tax cuts will be sourced. After all, we know cancelling an embassy in Sweden is not going to deliver the level of tax cuts that Mr Key is promising!

9 comments on “Predictions on Parliament ”

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  1. Paul Robeson 1
    26 May 2008 at 10:47 pm

    Isn’t Emerson the worst cartoonist? particularly when you look at the incision of that houdini tax cut box cartoon posted from stuff further down…

    David Low would be spinning …

    Politicians are out of touch gasbags, did ya hear?

    still better than actually having someone who might offer an adroit opinion on current events right?

  2. milo 2
    27 May 2008 at 12:04 am

    Nice cartoon – but not as good as the “Pragmatist” … that one was a classic.

    I do think The Standard is fixed upon a fiction – that there is a set amount of money to be divided up amongst the people. That view leads, I think, to the impoverishment of everybody.

    Tax cuts for the “rich” are necessary, as they encourage extra efforts and enterprise. That creates more jobs and wealth for all. It also helps to deal with the poverty trap that arises from the abatement of transfer payments as people earn more. Your earn more, you pay more tax, you pay more childcare and transport, WFF goes down – you’re no better off.

    So do you want a country in which people only work hard enough to earn the average wage? Do you want a country in which nobody feels encouraged to work hard? Do you want a country that discourages entrepreneurship?

    What sort of a country do you think that would wind up being …. ? And more importantly who is going to pay for it all, and why should they bother?

  3. IrishBill 3
    27 May 2008 at 7:30 am

    “Tax cuts for the “rich’ are necessary, as they encourage extra efforts and enterprise. That creates more jobs and wealth for all.”

    Just like they did in the 1990’s, eh Milo?

  4. higherstandard 4
    27 May 2008 at 8:05 am

    IB

    Why don’t you answer Milo’s most pertinent questions

    ‘do you want a country in which people only work hard enough to earn the average wage? Do you want a country in which nobody feels encouraged to work hard? Do you want a country that discourages entrepreneurship?’

    If you were indeed reading Marx last night your answers will be enlightening.

  5. IrishBill 5
    27 May 2008 at 8:14 am

    HS, the premise of milo’s argument is that cutting the top tax bracket achieves this. The 90’s showed us it didn’t. Why should I argue a point that has a false premise?

  6. higherstandard 6
    27 May 2008 at 8:27 am

    IB

    Fair enough I’m also not a believer in the trickle down theory

    As the creation of jobs surely comes under the 30% business tax bracket his argument is somewhat flawed

  7. killinginthenameof 7
    27 May 2008 at 10:18 am

    “So do you want a country in which people only work hard enough to earn the average wage? Do you want a country in which nobody feels encouraged to work hard? Do you want a country that discourages entrepreneurship?”

    Well as far as I know we dont have a %100 percent tax rate on anything, so i guess all that well paid work your doing isnt going to waste your still getting most of it.

    Maybe you should try doing some actual hard work (go sign up at a labouring company for a couple of weeks) then decide what shoudl be well paid and what shoudlnt…

  8. Felix 8
    27 May 2008 at 10:59 am

    I do think The Standard is fixed upon a fiction – that there is a set amount of money to be divided up amongst the people.

    At any given time of course there is.

  9. all_your_base 9
    27 May 2008 at 12:47 pm

    Paul, Bromhead must give him a run for his money, surely 😉