If National wins ...

[elZorro]

My favourite comment from the article...I do hope it was said tongue in cheek:

New Zealand society has always been tilted towards the rich and most of us prefer it that way. If you don't like it, emigrate.

It probably wasn't tongue in cheek, Banksie.

Here's a video from a few days back, of John Key being statesmanlike in the wake of "Dirty Politics". Gosh, he's a good speaker when he's on the ropes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B811XSGf--A

Vote for National, and if you're a worker near the minimum pay rate, you'll get a miserly pay increase, and by 2017 you might get a tax reduction of about $10 a week.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11320903

[Major von Tempsky]

EZ you live in Fantasyland. He's on the ropes when he's cantering away with the election?

He's on the ropes when he's absolutely caning Cunliffe and everyone else in the preferred PM poll?

Pull the other leg EZ!

[elZorro]

EZ you live in Fantasyland. He's on the ropes when he's cantering away with the election?

He's on the ropes when he's absolutely caning Cunliffe and everyone else in the preferred PM poll?

Pull the other leg EZ!

Come on MVT, you saw what he was like just after the book came out, he was shattered. He was trying to get away from the cameras, and only after a day or so of training up, was he starting to look a bit more assured. Some tougher questions before then would have made a difference, he's got his story down pat now. I think he's in this up to his neck.

[artemis]

My favourite comment from the article...I do hope it was said tongue in cheek:.....

If you earn $70,000 a year in wages, you pay tax on every dollar you earn.

If you earn $70,000 because the value of your investment increases by that amount then, unless you are a trader, you don't pay any tax at all.

This is a subsidy for the top 10 per cent of New Zealanders who own 50 per cent of the wealth.

There's nothing wrong with people making a few dollars and doing well, but a dollar earned one way should be taxed the same as a dollar earned another way......

Well that's not true at all once transfers are taken into account. From the Minister of Finance in 2011 -

The lowest-income 43 percent of households currently receive more in income support than they pay in income tax. The 1.3 million households with incomes under $110,000 a year collectively pay no net tax—that is, their total income support payments match their combined income tax. The top 10 percent of households contribute over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers—over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers. This system is highly redistributive and we believe it is fair.

[elZorro]

Well that's not true at all once transfers are taken into account. From the Minister of Finance in 2011 -

The lowest-income 43 percent of households currently receive more in income support than they pay in income tax. The 1.3 million households with incomes under $110,000 a year collectively pay no net tax—that is, their total income support payments match their combined income tax. The top 10 percent of households contribute over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers—over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers. This system is highly redistributive and we believe it is fair.

Artemis, I don't think you've been reading this thread for long. If you go back a year or two, we demolished that spin. Note that here we are only talking about income tax. People who are on the breadline and working, don't save any money. They need to spend it all each week. Most of it attracts GST at 15%, there are big fuel taxes and excise taxes on alcohol, power profit taxes, ACC payments, etc. Because there are a lot of these people in comparison with those at the top, all this tax, in various forms, makes up a significant part of the income for govt.

National trotted out this argument a long time ago, and they were shot down for it.

[artemis]

Artemis, I don't think you've been reading this thread for long. If you go back a year or two, we demolished that spin. Note that here we are only talking about income tax. People who are on the breadline and working, don't save any money. They need to spend it all each week. Most of it attracts GST at 15%, there are big fuel taxes and excise taxes on alcohol, power profit taxes, ACC payments, etc. Because there are a lot of these people in comparison with those at the top, all this tax, in various forms, makes up a significant part of the income for govt.

National trotted out this argument a long time ago, and they were shot down for it.

Well I'm not planning to read back 200 pages! So what are the correct figures? And what is the source. Up to date would be good.

[iceman]

Artemis, I don't think you've been reading this thread for long. If you go back a year or two, we demolished that spin. Note that here we are only talking about income tax. People who are on the breadline and working, don't save any money. They need to spend it all each week. Most of it attracts GST at 15%, there are big fuel taxes and excise taxes on alcohol, power profit taxes, ACC payments, etc. Because there are a lot of these people in comparison with those at the top, all this tax, in various forms, makes up a significant part of the income for govt.

National trotted out this argument a long time ago, and they were shot down for it.

EZ I don;t know how you can call that spin. Artemis correctly pointed out that what Belgie posted is absolute BS !

[Major von Tempsky]

Can't help noting as a career long economist and member of the Economists Assn who read their papers and attended conferences that the NZIER is regarded with far more respect by economists than BERL which is a much more recent private business and has managed to get predictions outstandingly wrong!
The NZIER was started off with the help and funding of the government decades and decades ago and not too long ago was still half funded by the government. It employs the best, most able economists from NZ and overseas of anywhere with the possible exclusion of Treasury.

For Cunliffe to attack the NZIER as not knowing what it is doing smacks of total desperation on his part. The fact that the NZIER says that the CGT will only gather half as much rural tax speaks for itself, more than a billion out. Labour now needs to identify which of its promises it is going to shelve to save a billion dollars!

[iceman]

The Greens continue their dirty politics using the same tactics as they did with their failed asset sales petition !

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...r-email-tactic

[iceman]

Belg why are you unable to write a post on here without personal abuse of all of those that have a view different to yours ? It is not surprising that a few posters have said they have blocked your abusive posts. You are obviously a very desperate man/woman that can not accept that your beloved Labour party is about to get the worst hammering it has had in living memory.