Capital Gains Tax

[minimoke]

I still fail to see the complexities of CGT. In the past posts you mentioned determining the correct 'valuation' for CGT would be a major problem. But it doesn't seem an issue in countries that have CGT.

Its not just me. The NZIER says, of valuation "This can become very complicated when, for example,assets have not been traded for a very long time. Inevitably, averages of one sort oranother are applied. This means some assets will be under-taxed and others overtaxed."

'Inflation' it's not added in the picture in terms of comparing different investments assets because inflation is compared equally across everything. It's the fault of the person that chooses to earn income from ie. cash term deposit than instead of higher risk ventures like stocks or rental properties, when it's clear the former gets the person less after tax income.

The later is only positively impacted if there is a gain from the risk. And thats not always the case - thats why its called risk

Again GST is a non-issue if you're rental property runs like a business where you claim the maintenance expenses off the rental income. If the person is not declaring the rental income as taxable income, then it's fair they absorb the GST cost.

Its an issue with the asset class. If you have your capital in a property GST is generated. If you have it in say shares there is no GST because no money is being spent on the upkeep of the capital

If a person had $100 in gain and they're in the 33% tax bracket, (for simplicity) they would be paying $33 in tax. How complicated is that? In Canada and Australia, $50 of that gain is only taxable income so the take take would be only $16.50

As I pointed out, that is taxing 100% of the non inflation gain.

If Jacinda chooses a CGT to be a tax no different to wage income (or interest deposit income), then I would expect a huge shift of $ leaving NZ as places like Australia and abroad would be more welcoming for investments that incur capital gain. A rise in non-residency status by the wealthy, but unfortunately for the avg rental property investor, leaving NZ is just not convenient or possible.

There will be a pile of known and unintended consequences. Is it really worth it for the $1b or so in extra tax they hope to generate.