$37 Million a week

[Bjauck]

A multi-million-dollar subsidy flows each week to landlords around the country – and the amount handed over is growing quickly.

But this isn’t the stream of private market capital gains, which deliver a serious windfall to property investors in years like the one we’ve just had. This is taxpayer money delivered from the Government.

The accommodation supplement bill is increasing rapidly: The supplement cost just more than $37 million a week in the September 2020 quarter, up from $27.1m in the June 2018 quarter and is nearly twice what it was six years ago.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/opini...-for-its-money

Real estate owners are the country's most entitled beneficiaries, through these indirect subsidies and the effect of taxation policies. This Labour Government will not change that, and will probably further exacerbate it.

Owner-occupiers are effectively subisidised too of course. The net returns on their leveraged equity invested is not taxed. Neither capital gains nor net imputed rent are taxed.

Other countries have had a incentivised pension scheme with tax concessions. For NZ it was leveraged real estate investment, whether owner-occupied or rental property ownership. Comparatively recently Kiwsaver was introduced - with a few grudging minimal concessions.