NZ’s lack of a capital gains tax means the richest here pay vastly less than elsewhere

The lack of a capital gains tax means the richest Kiwis are sitting pretty compared to taxpayers overseas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 19:

1. New Zealand’s richest taxpayers are paying just a half to a third the tax rates paid by equivalently richest taxpayers in other developed countries, largely because we don’t have a capital gains tax and they do, fresh research shows.

2. In scoop of the day, Shane Reti’s ridiculing of Health NZ’s employment of ‘wayfinders, pathfinders and boundary spanners’ was wrong because they don’t exist, The Post-$$$’s Thomas Manch reports this morning.

3. In deep-dive of the day, Shane Jones looked at locking in future Governments of all colours to a 30-year-long deal to buy gas, Newsroom Pro-$$$’s Marc Daalder reports this morning.

4. In solutions news, Auckland is getting rid of free car parks.

5. In quote of the day, a doctor accuses the Health Minister of gaslighting them on Health NZ not having a no hiring freeze

6. In chart of the day, NIWA details region by region what climate change means for Aotearoa in a variety of scenarios.

(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers. If we get over 100 likes we’ll open it up for public reading, listening and sharing)

1. Richest NZ richest taxpayers paying just a half to a third the tax paid in other developed countries

New Zealand’s richest taxpayers are paying just a half to a third the tax rates paid by equivalently richest taxpayers in other developed countries, largely because we don’t have a capital gains tax and they do, fresh research using OECD data by Max Rashbrooke for Tax Justice Aotearoa has found.