Quote Originally Posted by craic View Post
The main reason that savvy politicians, like John Key, and others avoided capital gains tax is the bottom line - you will get a return from the winners, less all their costs - but you will spend most of it on the losers, who will be experts on how and what to claim. And the cost of multitude of public servants you will need to operate the system will only be offset by the reduction in unemployment ( of public servants). Simple tax systems like GST are far more efficient at taking money from the public to fund the public. Imagine the rise in "cash jobs" if there is capital gains tax. I will have to pay more than two bottles of my Jim Beam to get my driveway restored after a storm. I may have to go to Jack Daniels by four and that costs me $40 to make. It might be cheaper to concrete my driveway but I would have to find a concrete truck driver who will drop his left overs as he passed.
That all depends on the rules that would be adopted. That's an unknown.