I had a look at the New Zealand Election Survey for the 2023 election at what voters issues were in 2023. It looks very similar in the major issues today. Economy and cost of living predominating, then health, climate change and crime. That has to be problem for the conservative coalition and especially for National. They haven’t moved the needle to anything except worse.
National’s recent Kiwisaver announcement, expected to cost $110 million a year, only pays back some of the savings from its erlier Kiwisaver cuts expected to save $610 million a year, and appears to be signs ofincreasing panic.
“Enough is enough. No more tinkering around the edges. It’s time for the super-rich to pay their damn taxes”
If the farming sector is the ‘backbone of the economy’ then why is it that we are struggling to stand upright economically at the moment? Is it because agriculture is a economic drain on the rest of NZ. It provides 85% of our export revenue. But contributes just 5% of GDP, 5% of the workforce, and 1-3% of tax revenue – which effectively measures the profit to NZ.
The real affordability crisis lies in the systematic extraction of income from households.
Privatisation and Plunder is essential reading for those who want to work for a society where prosperity for all is the aim.
That’s the headline of the pamphlet in the letterbox. But from their own measures is that true?
Is it only the uber wealthy and politicians that don’t want a wealth tax? Guyon Espiner talks with ex trader, now people’s economist Gary Stevenson.
Labour’s capital gains tax isn’t the end of the debate — it’s the beginning of a reckoning. The left’s real problem isn’t its policy. It’s the cult of reasonableness that’s made conviction sound impolite.
The usual voices have publicly attacked Labour’s proposed Capital Gains Tax using arguments that do not stack up.
Today’s leak of Labour’s tax policy is unsurprising. The later Robertson and long-term Parker views are lost. And this position is at odds with much of the thinking in the Labour Party.
Labour’s Capital Gains Tax has been released in less than an optimal manner. And the policy is more modest than some would have liked.
Brian Easton says we cannot attain a sustainable Scandinavian-type quality of life while keeping the existing tax system in place
Everyone on the left can agree that we must change the government. Elliot Crossan argues that if Labour wins in 2026 and refuses […]
… before the election starts to get real.
Again, we were woken up by a bunch of hoodrats drifting on the intersection by our house. Great clouds of smoke and lots of noise. As you do at three o clock in the morning, my brain started tying this together with recent articles about private helicopters in urban areas, and other forms of antisocial “Fuck You’s” to the rest of us.
David Parker’s Deputy Leader ‘s speech in 2014 at the Wellington Labour Party Conference was the best I ever heard from a Labour Leader. Vision matched values in intensity and scope. Parliament now loses one of its very best.
The world is in turmoil as political and economic uncertainty grow, and as conflict spreads. How the Left prepares for the next decade is a pressing challenge.
Over the last year, the Coalition has unleashed a series of cuts which have been devastating for the disabled community. These cuts are part of a class war — and it’s time to organise and fight back, writes Elliot Crossan.
1News: The party leader told Q+A that Labour would be announcing its tax policy later this year, ahead of the 2026 election. He […]
In his final speech Joe Biden has warned the world about the dangers posed by Oligarchs supporting the right into democratic power. He is right.
The resurgence of the tax debate reflects impacts of neo-liberal economic policy and developments in the global economy over the last half century. As Labour considers further its approach to tax policy, this wider context should be considered
ANZ, ASB and Simplicity are the latest to join the 77% of business leaders who now say CGT is essential for NZ. CGT goes wholly to the government so why is Luxon so against it?
Nigel Haworth argues that the 2012 reforms of the Labour Party created a perverse effect. Not to engender stronger member voice, but to empower a managerial model akin to a Piketty’s Brahmin caste. It weakened the Party’s ability to act strongly at arms length of Caucus and Parliamentary Leader.
A recently Tax Justice Aotearoa study suggests that the country could impse a capital gains tax or wealth tax and the wealthy would still be better off than they would be in similar countries.
Guest post by Nigel Haworth discussing recent publicity given to the Labour Party’s debate around tax reform.
Guest post by Nigel Haworth where he discusses Labour membership’s desire for taxation reform and why it is important that Labour decides on its position as soon as possible.
I don’t agree with people from New Zealand Initiative often. Mostly I just growl. But Oliver Hartwich who is the Initiative’s Executive Director wrote a article in The Australian “Christopher Luxon’s challenge for NZ economy: fiscal discipline or tax cuts”. Hard to find anyone aware of the current recession who could disagree outside of a small political minority in the National caucus.
Grant Robertson has given his valedictory speech in Parliament.
The IRD has estimated that National’s proposed Overseas Gambling Levy Policy will bring in $500 million less than it promised during the election campaign.
The right has this belief that they are economic geniuses. Occasionally this belief is shown to be faulty. Like this week when National’s costings for tax cuts to Landlords was $800 million more than previously estimated.
A George Monbiot article in the Guardian made me wonder what effect the Atlas Network is having on New Zealand politics through the Taxpayer’s Union. Publicly available information suggests considerable funding is being made available and that the current Government’s priorities are precisely those that the Atlas Network would approve of.
It was never going to be anything else, but two positive emerged. All policy options are back on the table, including tax, and there is a realisation that the main task ahead is to rebuild a strong and progressive party.
In 2021, I voted against Labour’s conference proposal for midstream leadership change to be determined by Caucus alone, saying that it risked Labour becoming a cadre party for elites. A series of posts will start with why the Caucus should not rush to a leadership vote.
Craig Rennie of the CTU has continued his excellent work analysing National’s proposed tax cuts and has come up with a doozie. Landlords who own multiple properties will get huge tax cuts if National’s policy is put in place.
National has suffered further damage to its credibility with its promise of a $250 tax cut per fortnight for an average family only being realised if that family spent at least $300 per week on childcare and was a two income family with each adult earning between $53,500 and $66,000.
