If National wins ...

[elZorro]

I'm sure the tax advising firm was just pointing you towards the direction where the relevant party (tax accountant) can tell you you're dreaming.

The fact is that high flyers with income from NZ are using tax havens. That should be illegal, and IRD should be tracing it. Any valid reason why it shouldn't be?

[Sgt Pepper]

It certainly seems unfair that property traders pay so much tax while private homeowners get off scot free.

Well I am a private home owner, and I pay many thousands of dollars in tax per year via PAYE, No tax deductions for us Fungus

[iceman]

Most farms, most properties. They rarely derive a taxable income of 10% of the capital invested each year, for example. They are held for the tax-free capital gain mostly.

Are you seriously saying most farms in NZ are "unproductive wealth" ? How could they possibly pay for Theo Spiering's salary, including a huge amount of PAYE, if they're unproductive ? Not to mention all the other numerous taxes and other benefits they pay to society !

[elZorro]

Are you seriously saying most farms in NZ are "unproductive wealth" ? How could they possibly pay for Theo Spiering's salary, including a huge amount of PAYE, if they're unproductive ? Not to mention all the other numerous taxes and other benefits they pay to society !

I'm saying they are relatively unproductive. A dairy farm might generate $3000 of income (not taxable profit) per hectare per year at best, drystock much less. Employees per hectare? a small part of one employee. Capital tied up, about $40,000 per hectare for dairy.

Even if the land was used instead for horticulture, different story, much more labour intensive. That would require a lot more staffing though. These days, it's not the name of the game.

[fungus pudding]

Hardly anyone trades property within the 2 year timeline, they evade that area. And property traders also get to claim back the bank interest as a cost, plus any other expenses. Private homeowners do not. You know that, why try to be clever about it? We're not fooled.

Probably not many sell within two years, but that does not necessarily mean they are not taxed. And nobody 'claims back the bank interest'. They pay tax on profit. Homeowners are not taxed on the benefit they receive.

[fungus pudding]

I'm saying they are relatively unproductive. A dairy farm might generate $3000 of income (not taxable profit) per hectare per year at best, drystock much less. Employees per hectare? a small part of one employee. Capital tied up, about $40,000 per hectare for dairy.

Even if the land was used instead for horticulture, different story, much more labour intensive. That would require a lot more staffing though. These days, it's not the name of the game.

You're fully at liberty to buy as many farms as you like. Turn them into rice fields and think of the number you could employ. Great idea eZ. Get into it.

[Investor]

The fact is that high flyers with income from NZ are using tax havens. That should be illegal, and IRD should be tracing it. Any valid reason why it shouldn't be?

Because they wrote the book on tax laws.

[elZorro]

Because they wrote the book on tax laws.

Good point. This National Govt has left a lot of loose ends.

I was listening to TV1 this morning, they're saying that ambient temperatures in Sydney and Melbourne will reach 50C on some days in the year by the end of the century, even if climate change is clipped to 2C above the old normal. Someone said it would have an effect on roading.

Of course roading has been one of the areas National professes to be good at. Countless numbers of their MPs have been photographed standing in front of new road constructions. This is progress, the roads of "National" significance (get it?), the Brighter Future. The road transport industry, roading contractors and NZTA etc, have been going gangbusters.

But as this article from 2016 shows, there is a problem with our bitumen. It's not coping too well with the new loading, especially on warm days.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news...nd-hot-weather

I don't have to tell you how much each km of new roading costs, even re-doing the surface. It sounds like the raw bitumen suppliers feel safe enough from the new rules, but the roading contractors have to add enough polymers into the bitumen to ensure it stays tight on the road when under stress, and doesn't start to flow. The additional material obviously costs extra, there might be some trade secrets there, and if they want to win a contract against the opposition, quality of the bitumen brew might be a factor. And this is just on asphalt surfaces, not the more commonly used chipseal off-highway.

So the market is being left to decide just what sort of roading quality we end up with, and it's anybody's guess what will happen to most of it when temperatures inevitably rise. Just take a drive down SH1 sometime, and in between dodging the patches and the potholes in the two-lane areas, think of this as just the start of the mess to come.

[fungus pudding]

Good point. This National Govt has left a lot of loose ends.

I was listening to TV1 this morning, they're saying that ambient temperatures in Sydney and Melbourne will reach 50C on some days in the year by the end of the century, even if climate change is clipped to 2C above the old normal. Someone said it would have an effect on roading.

Of course roading has been one of the areas National professes to be good at. Countless numbers of their MPs have been photographed standing in front of new road constructions. This is progress, the roads of "National" significance (get it?), the Brighter Future. The road transport industry, roading contractors and NZTA etc, have been going gangbusters.

But as this article from 2016 shows, there is a problem with our bitumen. It's not coping too well with the new loading, especially on warm days.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news...nd-hot-weather

I don't have to tell you how much each km of new roading costs, even re-doing the surface. It sounds like the raw bitumen suppliers feel safe enough from the new rules, but the roading contractors have to add enough polymers into the bitumen to ensure it stays tight on the road when under stress, and doesn't start to flow. The additional material obviously costs extra, there might be some trade secrets there, and if they want to win a contract against the opposition, quality of the bitumen brew might be a factor. And this is just on asphalt surfaces, not the more commonly used chipseal off-highway.

So the market is being left to decide just what sort of roading quality we end up with, and it's anybody's guess what will happen to most of it when temperatures inevitably rise. Just take a drive down SH1 sometime, and in between dodging the patches and the potholes in the two-lane areas, think of this as just the start of the mess to come.

When Winston has appointed your lot as govt. will we have non-stop posts from you telling us how wonderful everything is? Or will you somehow develop normal stereo vision?

[minimoke]

Most farms, most properties. They rarely derive a taxable income of 10% of the capital invested each year, for example. They are held for the tax-free capital gain mostly.

I agree. You can drive for miles and miles and see only empty paddocks. All quite unproductive. I think it is because the farmer has his stock down by the river.