Originally Posted by
BlackPeter
not sure, Daytr.
Why do you think that foreign buyers are a problem - and why do you think that it would be in the best interest of New Zealand to punish them (i.e treat them worse than residents)?
I guess at face value your proposal sounds like what the extreme right wing requests all over the world: punish and throw out foreigners (xenophobia is everywhere), people who look different (white people in Africa and black people everywhere else, white people in Asia and Asian people everywhere else), and / or people with a different faith or race (I suppose examples are not necessary). For sure you are better than that - aren't you?
The problem we have is not whom the Auckland properties belong to, but that there are not enough of them to go around for all the people legally living in Auckland (and potentially some of them not legally living there, but this is unlikely to be the same group as the people buying the houses). Punishing foreigners might make some dim witted talk back guests and populists happy - and probably as well the Winston Peters of this world, but this strategy will do absolutely nothing to resolve the housing crisis. Punishing non resident foreigners would not add one single house, and it would not remove one single tenant either from the Auckland housing stock.
The other thing to consider is - New Zealand lives well off global free trade. If we unilaterally start to restrict this free trade, than we are likely to break some of the agreements both Labour and National signed during their respective reigns - and we would as well piss off the rest of the world (and there are dim witted populists everywhere, not just in New Zealand). And believe me, the rest of the world would hardly notice, if we can't sell anymore our agricultural products and if the tourist flow would drop to a trickle. We however would notice and feel the pain. They say it is not clever to throw stones when you are sitting in a glass house - it might be more sensible to resist from doing so.