The Standard

Economy

Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour

Categories under Economy

Fixing the tax haven – what’s the downside?

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, May 13th, 2016 - 75 comments

Fixing our tax haven loopholes is easy but Key won’t act. Why?

What the TTIP teaches us about the TPP

Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, May 13th, 2016 - 11 comments

TTIP, TTPA, same game around the globe, a take-over by American corporations, with the rights of the public held in no regard whatsoever.

National Party President selling out?

Written By: - Date published: 12:09 pm, May 12th, 2016 - 14 comments

The $25 million deal prompted considerable curiosity because it involved an off-market purchase of shares from Sanford’s second biggest shareholder, Avalon Investment Trust, which is run by the family of Peter Goodfellow.

Petition on tax dodging

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, May 12th, 2016 - 50 comments

tax-dodging

John Key’s dead cat strategy

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, May 12th, 2016 - 52 comments

National is hoping to avoid a proper debate about issues raised by the Panama Papers by raising a series of idiotic diversions.

Land tax – what’s the down side?

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, May 12th, 2016 - 75 comments

The Nats are using spurious data to justify dropping a proposal for a land tax on foreign buyers of housing. Why?

Talley’s don’t want you to read this

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, May 11th, 2016 - 14 comments

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has just launched its new digital campaigning site – Together

And their first campaign is focused on Talley’s

Fairfax and NZME and merger talks on

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, May 11th, 2016 - 13 comments

As previously discussed here, bad for the media, bad for democracy.

Key lashes out with the smears over tax haven status

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, May 11th, 2016 - 122 comments

Key was disgraceful in parliament yesterday, doing his buffoon act to try and trivialise the tax haven issue, and lashing out with the smears.

APN Fairfax NZ merger?

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, May 10th, 2016 - 20 comments

A healthy democracy requires a healthy media, and in NZ both are getting sicker.

Sprung again – Key’s “lawyer” has close links to Mossack Fonseca

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, May 10th, 2016 - 170 comments

Contrary to Prime Minister John Key’s categorical assertion, his “lawyer”, Ken Whitney, has been found to have links to Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm at the centre of a global scandal on tax evasion and avoidance, TVNZ reported today.

John Key vs the world

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, May 10th, 2016 - 22 comments

Is John Key the only international leader defending tax havens? Includes bonus international media round up of yesterday’s revelations.

Key’s Lawyer is a Mossack Man

Written By: - Date published: 6:44 am, May 10th, 2016 - 50 comments

Despite the PM’s assurances, it turns out the his lawyer had direct links to Mossack Fonseca. And so did everyone else in the room when Todd McClay was successfully convinced to drop the IRD review into foreign trust. Someone’s been telling porkies …

The link between tax havens, criminals and the amoral rich

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, May 9th, 2016 - 162 comments

“The Panama Papers issue is either illegal, or verging on illegal, it’s tax evasion, rather than tax avoidance,” Brash said.

Logging truck roll overs meeting: Otaika Valley Hall tomorrow night!

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 9th, 2016 - 19 comments

A fully laden logging truck tears up the road like thousands of cars. And when they keep rolling over around the corner, locals get very nervous and upset for themselves and their kids.

John Key chickens out of #panamapapers interview

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, May 9th, 2016 - 37 comments

This morning John Key refused to be interviewed on Radio New Zealand after learning that they intended to ask him questions about the Panama Papers.  And some elements of the media are for some strange reason trying to say there is nothing to see because he personally has not been implicated.

NZ exporting poverty

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, May 9th, 2016 - 15 comments

By enabling tax evasion for the rich in other (notably South American) countries NZ is exporting poverty. It’s all perfectly legal. And that’s exactly the problem.

Sprung! New Panama Papers dump confirm NZ is a tax haven

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, May 9th, 2016 - 277 comments

A new release of Panama papers absolutely confirms New Zealand is a tax haven says Nicky Hager. And ironically, it is because of New Zealand’s squeaky clean reputation that tens of thousands of foreigners have come flooding here.
Rather than actually dealing with the issue, John Key is using his old classics “nothing to see here” coupled with “Labour did it too”, “nicky hager is a conspiracy nut”, and “wait for the (Shewan) whitewash enquiry” defenses.

Panama Papers whistleblower cites Pacific isles, NZ, for good reasons

Written By: - Date published: 6:37 pm, May 8th, 2016 - 23 comments

Jurgen Mossack told Field his business involved people “trying to avoid paying taxes in their home countries” – crucially “avoidance”, “unlike evasion”, is within the law.

If we tax the multinational corporations will they leave?

Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, May 8th, 2016 - 151 comments

Rodney Hide thinks that making multinational corporations pay their fair share of tax will make them leave.

John, Ken and Mark might have had much better weeks

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, May 7th, 2016 - 14 comments

“I did a little yelp of joy…like an excited puppy,” wrote Farrier, the former Newsworthy presenter at TV3, on hearing of Weldon’s resignation

Why was John Key singled out by Panama Papers hacker?

Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, May 7th, 2016 - 169 comments

Why, out of all the rotten, corrupt and unprincipled nations of the earth, did the Panama Papers hacker single out New Zealand’s John Key for special mention?

Panama leaker’s statement singles out John Key

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, May 7th, 2016 - 162 comments

Over night the Panama Papers leaker “John Doe” released a “manifesto”.

In it he/she mentioned just one national leader by name, singling out our very own John Key, for his “curious silence”…

Another Panama dump on NZ links

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, May 6th, 2016 - 80 comments

Australia’s Financial Review has just published more details of NZ’s starring role as tax haven in the Panama Papers.

Update: Claims that Key’s lawyer never dealt with Mossack Fonseca seem to be – untrue.

Pharmac underfunded and education cuts

Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, May 6th, 2016 - 30 comments

It’s a steady attrition, the death of a thousand cuts.

Key’s sloppy trust

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, May 5th, 2016 - 7 comments

An editorial in The Herald today keeps the pressure on Key. Meanwhile his “lawyer” can’t be happy, and Key hits peak condescension.

Unemployment jumps

Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, May 5th, 2016 - 212 comments

After eight long years of National there are almost 40,000 more unemployed than when they came to power.

REALITY TV UPDATE: Mark Weldon Wins NZ’s Biggest Loser.

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, May 4th, 2016 - 56 comments

MediaWorks CEO and mate of the PM, Mark Weldon, has quit his job. Is it too late to save MediaWorks? Should we care?

EDIT: Staff get in the champers shock!

The unfortunate case of the Overseas Investment Office handling of the purchase of a Taranaki Farm

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, May 4th, 2016 - 39 comments

They say in politics that a news story is good for the opposition/bad for the Government if it hits the media cycle two days in a row.  If it appears for a third or a fourth day then it is a crisis and urgent action is required.  Louise Upston’s handling of the OIO is clearly a crisis.

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, May 3rd, 2016 - 18 comments

Key chucks his “lawyer” under a bus – Part 2.

Climate Change Change Pt 1: What are we waiting for?

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, May 3rd, 2016 - 48 comments

Before government spending cuts there was The Riot for Austerity, a grass roots Climate Change movement that showed how it was possible for ordinary people to change and significantly reduce their carbon emissions without someone forcing them to.