Yeah - right
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If the sun stopped shining we'd be in trouble. If Australia attacked us, we'd be in trouble. If nobody ever died we'd be in trouble. If swine flu, sars, bird-flu or mad-cow disease broke out in a big way we'd be in trouble. If the millennium bug really hit us in 2100 we'd be in trouble. If tourism, trade, and a million other things stopped all at once we'd be in trouble. Not things sensible people worry about though.
"Silly" tax proposals - they sound fair to me, I aspire to paying some at the top rate most years. Company tax being lower is a bit of a side issue, as when the money is taken out privately, it has to be topped up taxwise, to the appropriate amount. Good on you for noting, Harvey Specter, about net income tax for the lower paid being low. Total tax paid, that's a different matter.
I see even John Key has thought about quitting. He's certainly aged while he's been in office, but so have we all. Will we look back on his tenure and say how benevolent he's been, how many world-leading and great policies he's helped put in place for NZ? Or will we simply remember a government that hung in there grimly through the aftermath of the GFC and ChCh earthquakes, and borrowed like mad to cover their ineptitude?
Here's your chance, National Party voters, to bask in the glory of your leader, by purchasing his new biography. Carefully timed to affect the election, but as this Trademe listing shows, not all of us believe everything we read about the National Party and its MPs. Great questions on this listing.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=746833501
The CGT policy from Labour is becoming more popular, especially in Auckland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/markets/ne...ectid=11282563
And then we have anonymous editorials from people like this person, who will be in the top 2%, and so, directly affected by the top tax rate, writing an opinion piece in the Herald. It pushes all the buttons for the right-leaning readers, and seeks to persuade swinging voters.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11281696
One particularly good comment after this right-wing editorial..
Quote:
Another day, another anti-Labour Herald editorial.
Normal lower-to-middle working class people have borne the brunt of the global financial crisis, and continue to do so regardless of how many commentators mouth off about this 'rockstar economy' of ours, which was primarily set in motion by speculators, finance companies, banks, and captured regulators.
There are over 200,000 children in endless, circular poverty here, we have record levels of debt, currently around $70bn, welfare has been cut to the bone and will probably get cut further, jobs are increasingly being automated, water, air and land environments are being abused by people who can make a healthy profit doing so, GST has been raised (after JK promised he wouldn't) which disproportionately impacts the poor, various infrastructure and resource extraction projects have not created even half the jobs they were promised to, asset sales have helped drive up the price of electricity, inequality at record levels... I could go on and on.
Bottom line: the rich need to be taxed more heavily, for redistribution/social justice, and paying down this record debt. Not a huge amount more, just a little can make the difference.
j-mcdonald - 08:43 AM Thursday, 26 Jun 2014
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Their total tax is still very low. If you consider that they receive more 'tax credits' than they pay in tax, GST is therefore the only major tax they pay (I wont count vice taxes like alcohol and tabacco, though you could argue fuel tax should be included too). So even if they spend their entire income, their 'tax rate is still only a max of 15%, less the tax credits they get on their income. Now as the media keeps telling us, they spend all their money on rent (GST exempt) and have no money for food of clothing, that means they aren't paying any tax at all. So while I qualified my statement with 'income tax' as that is the easy one to prove, the statement probably still stands for all taxes.
I dont see why the left compain about Nationals borrowing, when Labour would have done exactly the same. Sure the is the 'tax cuts' (which theoretically were meant to be revenue neutral but I dont think they were) and Labour would have increased taxes (what would more tax have done to the economy?).
I personally think people dont understand how this will impact houseprices. Yes CGT will reduce the increase in house prices but only because it will have an effect on economic growth, and hence wage growth. The 'family' home is still exempt which is over 60% of the housing stock and most investors are in for the long term so they dont sell anyway. The quick flick guys are meant to be tax now (but probably file false returns) so they will probably try to claim the lower 15% going forward compared to the 33% they are meant to now.
Note: I would be in favour of a CGT if it had no exemptions, though I would argue for roll over relief (carry forward you gain untaxed into your next house). I am not entirely convinced the admin costs warrant it and the extra tax will just be wasted on the lefts follies, when it should really be a revenue neutral change with tax rates (at the lower end?) fallling as the capital gains tax take starts to roll in.