Back in the real world
Let’s have another look at our friend, the distribution of income graph. The red circle is what most people earn. The blue circle […]
Economy
tax
Kremlinology: Nats’ tax plans
National is still refusing to give us any detail on its tax cut plan, indicating it doesn’t have one. But let’s do a […]
Even Granny’s patience can wear thin
With a loving smack that would have brought a smile to Bob McCoskrie’s face, the Herald‘s editorial today rebukes John Key in the […]
Cumulative Effect
The Press (Budget Doesn’t Impress Family) looks at the effect of the tax cuts on an average family with a combined income of […]
National’s cruel hoax
Well the budget is out and across the country the public are looking at their tax cuts and asking “is that it?” and […]
Tax cut graphs and full calculator
Here are graphs of the portion of income going on tax and the portion of reduction in tax for Kiwis under the Budget’s […]
Tax cut calculator
As much as I despair to see our political discourse descend into a bidding war on taxes, it’s worth looking at Infometrics’ online […]
Budget 2008: Tax cuts
Labour has announced a three year tax cut package worth $10.6 billion. Here’s a table showing the changes: Current 15.00% 21.00% 33.00% 39.00% […]
National: we’ll borrow for tax cuts for the rich
Discovering National’s policy is a bit like the old art of Kremlinology, when Western intelligence agencies would attempt to discover the inner workings […]
ACT: tax cuts for the rich, please
Rodney Hide is calling for the Budget’s tax cuts to take the form of raising the thresholds to account for inflation since 1999, […]
Tax cut speculation
Now that Michael Cullen has ruled out a tax-free bracket but promised that everyone will benefit from Labour’s tax-cut package, what cuts will […]
Cullen rules out tax-free bracket, GST cut
It’s disappointing that Michael Cullen has ruled out both a tax-free bracket and a GST cut in his tax cut package to be […]
The 40 cent tax cut
National and some of the more wacky commentators are complaining that the $655 million used by the Government to buy back the rail […]
Would Key scrap GST on food?
With hints that regional fuel tax could be put on the “go slow” list, along with parts of the emissions trading scheme, it […]
Put it on the kids’ tab
Some may have noted an odd series of questions in Parliament and press releases from Bill English around government borrowing over the last […]
7 reasons why cutting GST on food will not help
Scrapping GST is a classic, populist issue that sounds delicious in times of high food prices but at closer inspection – it doesn’t […]
Dunne: feathering his own nest
Peter Dunne is once again touting his plans to introduce income splitting. It’s a policy aimed at helping out the wealthy. New Zealand […]
I’ve got a solution, what’s the problem?
The junior doctors’ strike is a difficult issue. On the one hand, these are highly valuable workers whom we can’t afford to lose […]
National’s tax cut dilemma
If National are so keen to cut taxes and so critical of the Government for not doing so earlier, why are they being […]
The 50 cent tax cut
This morning on Breakfast, John Key repeated his line that capping the size of the core public service (that includes planning staff for health, […]
It’s your fault I keep saying contradictory things
Regular readers will remember that one of John Key’s excuses for he ‘we would love to see wages drop‘ quote was that the […]
Counting our collective coin
Check out this groovy little gadget. You put your money in the slot and it gets counted, with the power of ‘digital’! Maybe […]
Tax cuts = no rise in the minimum wage?
From the ABC site: “A peak business group says the Federal Government’s promised tax cuts should be taken into account when deciding on […]
Dolla Dolla Bill, Y’all
Days after saying ‘we’ve always said, we aren’t that worried about, um, whether the Crown needs to borrow a bit of money [for […]
Protecting New Zealand’s assets
The government has made a series of moves to prevent strategic New Zealand assets being exploited by foreign companies. Last week tax law […]
What’s the future of Working for Families?
One consquence of the expectations around tax cuts is an examination of some of the policies already have in place – Working for […]
John Key’s plan to cut your pay
“We would love to see wages drop”. You would think that given the simmering debate about our wage gap with Australia at the […]
Is inequality closing down our concern for others?
Jenny Russel of the Guardian writes, “As the middle classes feel the pain of comparison with the super-rich, we lose all enthusiasm for […]
Positions on tax cuts: a summary
Both the Labour-led government and National have promised income tax cuts to follow the government’s family and business tax cuts. Neither has given […]
Swan to build surplus as economic stabiliser
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan has announced that he intends to lift the target for the budget surplus, so that fiscal policy can help […]
Key conjures up cuts
John Key tells us that he would cut ‘wasteful government spending’ to pay for upper-bracket tax cuts bigger than Labour’s cuts. But do […]
Rich call for tax cuts for rich
Four associations representing wealthy New Zealanders are saying tax cuts should be in the form of making the top tax rate 30 cents […]
Cullen puts tax cuts in context
In a speech today to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce Cullen has further differentiated the role of tax cuts under National and Labour. […]
Tax cuts and the wage gap
News that 28,000 New Zealanders left for Australia last year has Business NZ, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Party predictably calling […]
Possible $1.5b in tax cuts in 2008
From Stuff: Cullen said “uncertainties” still existed, but Treasury had “significantly” lifted its revenue forecasts which meant the $1.5b in tax cuts in […]
Entitleme.com – tax comparisons
From the site: “The only two universal truths. Death and Taxes. Entitleme is an effort to deduce an individuals effective tax rate. The […]