Hipkins rules out wealth tax for his time as PM after ditching plans in Budget for a revenue-neutral wealth tax on the top 0.5% to pay for a $20/week tax cut for bottom 99.5% because...just because.
Bernard, you will be happy to know that I am helping ordinary people into their first homes often(mortgage adviser). It is not as easy in Auckland but out of Auckland the first home loan scheme means only a 5% deposit is required for most. Auckland will get better once we have a stable enough property market for townhouses to keep coming at their current rate.
That will never happen. Here on Waiheke we have enough houses for everyone but 38 % of the them are empty and our last KO houses (14 of them) were built 35 years ago. We need govt housing to address our terrible and unaffordable housing situation in so called holiday areas plus higher rates for those who hire out on the Airbnb market. And an empty house tax per square metre going up quarterly which is directed to KO and housing trusts that provide affordable rental properties and long term leases.
I do wonder why I who do not live in a holiday area and who is an employer and that neither I nor my employees obtain any subsidy or support from the taxpayer should have my taxes go to pay for housing for those who can not afford to live in "holiday areas". This is a lifestyle choice - the simple message is that either you move to somewhere you can afford to live or your employer pays you sufficiently well that you can afford to buy to rent a house in these price inflated locations.
Why on earth should I pay to subsidise housing for the service staff of those wealthy enough to live in Waiheke or Queenstown. You are already parasitising the economy enough with your tax free capital gains - if you need staff pay them enough to live in your community.
I don't know the situation of the writer you are replying to, but I do know that Waiheke Island has a mixed population - some wealthy and some definitely not.
So we are talking about 3rd generations of people who live on Waiheke when it wasn’t the jewel in Auckland’s crown. And we are talking about teachers, cooks, ambulance
Drivers & nurses. We all need to be housed & so your argument runs hollow.
If you living on Waiheke you are making a "lifestyle" choice - if you cant afford to live there then live somewhere you can afford - Ive made that choice and I dont see why you should think that I should subsidise people who wan to live beyond their means.
I do wonder the same about the Greens (ie slaves to Labour's sweeping statements), but looking at ACT which has reasonably quickly increased it's vote from ~0 to >10%, it's hard to know if it is genuinely possible the Greens can hit >20%, which with TPM could potentially give a majority share in a left bloc?
I was going to switch my vote to Labour (for the first time in two decades) if they introduced at CGT / wealth tax. And this is as someone who will get disproportionately penalised by CGT/Wealth tax than others.
The optics of it are terrible. It makes them look like a party led by a desire on to hold power than principles. Labour know tax reform is at the core of changes needed in NZ, but once again shy away from the awkward stuff.
There wasn't even an attempt at selling the idea of 'rebalancing tax' to NZ. They were just mute and then dropped it. Appalling.
The Greens wealth tax is just marginal income taxes with bits tacted on. We've been doing marginal income taxes for decades. If it hasn't worked in the past, why should anyone believe it's going to work now?
It is pathetic to have a Labour Party adrift of its principles for so many years. CGT is tax on otherwise tax free profit. It is a stupidly small amount of money in comparison to what is profited and that is the message that should be drilled home. How else do we get this highly distorted economy balancing. The tax bands need serious adjustment. Study after study has shown this. Pathetic! Labour has lost my vote, but it won't be going to National.
It's not just "free." It's contributed from the public. Land only appreciates in value because of things like services and infrastructure (public), and network effects (also an emergent property of the existence of a community that people want to inhabit). It's only fair that the public recoup some of the equity that they've been dutifully pumping up.
This is the key. Financialised assets do nothing to contribute, make no actual profits. They simply bleed the rest of the community and make actual productive business impossible. Aristocratic bludgers. Real estate built on public investments in sewers, roads, rail, parks, schools, hospitals, etc., creams off unearned benefits and distribute them to shareholders who haven’t lifted a finger. The rentier class, as Adam Smith, Ricardo, Marx etc made clear, must be taxed out of existence.
Wow. They’re meant to be the Labour Party ... the fact they can’t sell this when it would be $ beneficial for the overwhelming majority of their voters says - a lot. Where is their vision, their plan, their ethos. To quote Danyl McLaughlan, the genius, “a kludgeocratic budget for the ages”. Ka kite ano, Labour
To deal with the poverty and infrastructure issues facing it currently and prepare for the increasing challenges coming at us from climate change. Very sad
It's ludicrous that I if I was a waged earner I could get a massive loan to buy a rental property, but if I want a small loan to help grow my business - forget about it. I wonder what the unintended consequences of that distortion of the lending landscape are?
And there are so many consequences spilling from the underfunding of education that fall heavily on the most disadvantaged, that I'm beginning to wonder if they are, actually, intended.
As someone who would dearly love to expand a startup with direct implications on our ability to draw down atmospheric carbon, I can tell you first hand about the consequences.
Banks only care about one thing: Land. Business and entrepreneurship can go pound sand. That's our neoliberal paradise.
The funny thing here though is that they only care about mortgaging residential land that they know they can leverage. It was almost impossible for us to buy 35ha of rural / residential land with the aim of rewilding half of it (to do our bit to mitigate the climate and ecosystem collapse), even though we only needed a 10% mortgage! The only way we managed in the end was with the local building society whose interest rates are about 2% higher than the banks. Only bank in the country (ANZ) that even looks at lending for land goes to 25ha maximum, and even then they turn their nose up. Otherwise, you need to apply for a farm business loan which brings a whole other level of issues (especially if you are not, nor will become a farmer).
That would be social engineering, or by the kinder term, dumbing down of the population. Why do so many potential game changers not vote? They have been turned off being informed and responsible citizens. It is a choice, but it is encouraged. It helps the Status Quo to continue into the future. What is in the future is Fortress NZ.
In my view there are only three things that are important. Housing, health and education. Labour hasn’t measured up on any of them. Double the salaries of all who are in education and health and create a bank that provides a fixed low interest rate for thirty years. Forget about the potholes….
Can’t believe this decision. What is the point of labour? Would have rather hipkins lost standing for something. Moving overseas next year. Luxon as PM will do my head in.
Obviously the focus is on yesterday’s disappointing announcement from the PM choosing not to do some very minor redistribution to those in real need. But let’s not forget that NACT not only won’t introduce any sort of capital/wealth tax they propose to actively give tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of services. Why isn’t anybody getting worked up about that?
That's what is expected of a centre right NACT coalition and people who want that can vote it. Those who don't want it would like to have an alternative to vote for, which is nominally a Labour led Government. The disappointment is the alternative is proving itself not to be an alternative at all.
Exactly! I’ve voted both for National and for Labour in the (fairly distant) past, depending on what I thought was right for our country at the time. I’m not angry at National, despite the damage some of their policies have done, because what they did was largely expected. It was their mandate, if you like. But, I am very angry at Labour for their betrayal and lies and for misleading the public by going against their mandate. Ardern started it and Hipkins has just finished it.
a large number of people are incensed at/by Act's and National's policies to give tax advantages/breaks to the already wealthy, which will entrench wealth in NZ to those who already have wealth. many would have voted for Labour at the next election but not now after Hipkins recent announcement to not introduce a capital gains tax in NZ.
The press conference held by Grant Robertson yesterday was particularly interesting and perhaps this shows a crack in the foundation of the current Labour Party.
Very nervous of the political swing back to the right with National/Act and fear that a lot of good progress will be lost. I can now sit hopeful of a consolation prize - Labour bleeding seats to other parties on the left.
What a depressing start to the day! Or is just the cold shower we all need to shake us out of the she'll be rights?
We need rapid transformation of our economy and that takes courageous and compassionate leaders. Chris Hipkins has just definitively ruled himself out. The signs haven't been great since he arrived in the chair but every week he looks more and more cautious and spineless. Who would be a better option to lead Labour, someone with a heart, a spine and a strong stomach? Grant Robertson can take a flying leap with his mealy words about fairness.
I'll be voting Green, immediately donating to their campaign and encouraging others to do the same.
I feel like we need some protesting in the streets. We're not going to get the transformation we need or want without fighting for it. Thanks for poking us into action!
I get it, but the Greens have been seen to enable this behaviour from the Government, all but silently over years (not days). And now, finally, begin to speak up?? So it's the trust factor that's missing - how can voters know what non-negotiables will be abandoned post-election under such status quo politics. I agree with someone else on here who recently pointed out we need democratic reform of our governance structure. In this deep set of crises we are in, the green versus blue versus red etc is a combative game we don't have time to engage in. There are positive ideas on all 'sides' and we need collaboration and shared ideas to respond on an emergency footing.
As a present Labour member I agree with you Sonya. I'll resign my membership and transfer and associated donations it to the Greens. Labour has shown itself to be spineless, and what could have been an election winner has now disappeared. Despite what you have said previously Bernard about the Greens, I feel as though I can support them with a clear conscience.
The more I think about it ... who were they scared about the pushback from? What kind of public sympathy would be out there for anyone who found themselves affected by the new wealth tax (family home excluded?) What exactly is the point of the Labour Party again?
I have helped with TOP campaigns in the past, but I'm very unlikely to be voting for them this round... Even if they get in (probably more of a longshot than even NZ-First), their persistent 'centrism' will essentially prop up NAct. The shame is many of their policies have had merit in the past, but they've picked idiotic hills to die on (for example, 100% house deposits, and no mortgage deduction on their LVT); and a series of beneficial policies (Teal card, UBI, tax-free threasholds, GST-funded infrastructure) that completely depend on those other inconceivable policies to be implemented... it's perhaps the most frustrating thing to happen to a political party since Peter Dunne's batshit tailgaters in 2002.
Same. I voted for them last time but probably not this time for the same reasons. Hoping they’ll go into a coalition with Greens and TPM. No way I’m voting either National or Labour though. TOP is still preferable to either of them.
Hipkins is being the worst sort of coward here. A disingenuous one who is more concerned about his (and Grant's) ability to "out-austerity" the right wing. Saying Labour "has no mandate" when we have a recent poll unequivocally saying otherwise is gaslighting.
Neoliberal disinfo has destroyed Aotearoa. Inequality and lost agency will drive societal cohesion to new lows and by looking around at international examples we all know what comes next. A populist strongman will capitalise on the fear and anger of the disaffected, and any chance at retaining a liberal democracy will be chucked into the grinder of fascism.
Say hello to a generation of climate disasters, economic collapse, and general ugliness if we're going to be governed by Luxon's property portfolio.
I don’t understand ‘no mandate’ ... if working in favour of the vast majority of your supporters is not a mandate, what is? Are they saying everything has to be an election issue? Where’s the policy coherency if so? No sense.
Has Labour just given us the incentive to use our MMP electoral system to smash FPP once and for all? I have been waiting a long time to see that happen, and there are some good credible options on the left, so I have faith all is not lost.
Bernard, you will be happy to know that I am helping ordinary people into their first homes often(mortgage adviser). It is not as easy in Auckland but out of Auckland the first home loan scheme means only a 5% deposit is required for most. Auckland will get better once we have a stable enough property market for townhouses to keep coming at their current rate.
That will never happen. Here on Waiheke we have enough houses for everyone but 38 % of the them are empty and our last KO houses (14 of them) were built 35 years ago. We need govt housing to address our terrible and unaffordable housing situation in so called holiday areas plus higher rates for those who hire out on the Airbnb market. And an empty house tax per square metre going up quarterly which is directed to KO and housing trusts that provide affordable rental properties and long term leases.
The first home loan scheme is for non KO houses as well.
Just how large a loan burden is the remaining 95% though? I fail to see any good news in what you wrote.
I do wonder why I who do not live in a holiday area and who is an employer and that neither I nor my employees obtain any subsidy or support from the taxpayer should have my taxes go to pay for housing for those who can not afford to live in "holiday areas". This is a lifestyle choice - the simple message is that either you move to somewhere you can afford to live or your employer pays you sufficiently well that you can afford to buy to rent a house in these price inflated locations.
Why on earth should I pay to subsidise housing for the service staff of those wealthy enough to live in Waiheke or Queenstown. You are already parasitising the economy enough with your tax free capital gains - if you need staff pay them enough to live in your community.
I don't know the situation of the writer you are replying to, but I do know that Waiheke Island has a mixed population - some wealthy and some definitely not.
I live i rural nz - the point Im making is why should I be subsidising lifestylers in Waiheke - we are talking here about people who dont have homes
They aint lifestyle folk whatever that means????
So we are talking about 3rd generations of people who live on Waiheke when it wasn’t the jewel in Auckland’s crown. And we are talking about teachers, cooks, ambulance
Drivers & nurses. We all need to be housed & so your argument runs hollow.
If you living on Waiheke you are making a "lifestyle" choice - if you cant afford to live there then live somewhere you can afford - Ive made that choice and I dont see why you should think that I should subsidise people who wan to live beyond their means.
I do wonder the same about the Greens (ie slaves to Labour's sweeping statements), but looking at ACT which has reasonably quickly increased it's vote from ~0 to >10%, it's hard to know if it is genuinely possible the Greens can hit >20%, which with TPM could potentially give a majority share in a left bloc?
(Warning: Venting follows)
I was going to switch my vote to Labour (for the first time in two decades) if they introduced at CGT / wealth tax. And this is as someone who will get disproportionately penalised by CGT/Wealth tax than others.
The optics of it are terrible. It makes them look like a party led by a desire on to hold power than principles. Labour know tax reform is at the core of changes needed in NZ, but once again shy away from the awkward stuff.
There wasn't even an attempt at selling the idea of 'rebalancing tax' to NZ. They were just mute and then dropped it. Appalling.
100% Luke
Can I tempt you in some Greens?
The Greens wealth tax is just marginal income taxes with bits tacted on. We've been doing marginal income taxes for decades. If it hasn't worked in the past, why should anyone believe it's going to work now?
Wow Bernard - 51 likes to a comment on The Kaka is a true indication of its growth
It is pathetic to have a Labour Party adrift of its principles for so many years. CGT is tax on otherwise tax free profit. It is a stupidly small amount of money in comparison to what is profited and that is the message that should be drilled home. How else do we get this highly distorted economy balancing. The tax bands need serious adjustment. Study after study has shown this. Pathetic! Labour has lost my vote, but it won't be going to National.
It's not just "free." It's contributed from the public. Land only appreciates in value because of things like services and infrastructure (public), and network effects (also an emergent property of the existence of a community that people want to inhabit). It's only fair that the public recoup some of the equity that they've been dutifully pumping up.
This is the key. Financialised assets do nothing to contribute, make no actual profits. They simply bleed the rest of the community and make actual productive business impossible. Aristocratic bludgers. Real estate built on public investments in sewers, roads, rail, parks, schools, hospitals, etc., creams off unearned benefits and distribute them to shareholders who haven’t lifted a finger. The rentier class, as Adam Smith, Ricardo, Marx etc made clear, must be taxed out of existence.
Wow. They’re meant to be the Labour Party ... the fact they can’t sell this when it would be $ beneficial for the overwhelming majority of their voters says - a lot. Where is their vision, their plan, their ethos. To quote Danyl McLaughlan, the genius, “a kludgeocratic budget for the ages”. Ka kite ano, Labour
The lack of courage and integrity in this decision is appalling. It means that New Zealand falls further behind in any ability
To deal with the poverty and infrastructure issues facing it currently and prepare for the increasing challenges coming at us from climate change. Very sad
It's ludicrous that I if I was a waged earner I could get a massive loan to buy a rental property, but if I want a small loan to help grow my business - forget about it. I wonder what the unintended consequences of that distortion of the lending landscape are?
And there are so many consequences spilling from the underfunding of education that fall heavily on the most disadvantaged, that I'm beginning to wonder if they are, actually, intended.
As someone who would dearly love to expand a startup with direct implications on our ability to draw down atmospheric carbon, I can tell you first hand about the consequences.
Banks only care about one thing: Land. Business and entrepreneurship can go pound sand. That's our neoliberal paradise.
I can relate ...
So can I ...
The funny thing here though is that they only care about mortgaging residential land that they know they can leverage. It was almost impossible for us to buy 35ha of rural / residential land with the aim of rewilding half of it (to do our bit to mitigate the climate and ecosystem collapse), even though we only needed a 10% mortgage! The only way we managed in the end was with the local building society whose interest rates are about 2% higher than the banks. Only bank in the country (ANZ) that even looks at lending for land goes to 25ha maximum, and even then they turn their nose up. Otherwise, you need to apply for a farm business loan which brings a whole other level of issues (especially if you are not, nor will become a farmer).
We want to do this too. Perhaps we should just start our own land trusts and stuff the banks!
That would be social engineering, or by the kinder term, dumbing down of the population. Why do so many potential game changers not vote? They have been turned off being informed and responsible citizens. It is a choice, but it is encouraged. It helps the Status Quo to continue into the future. What is in the future is Fortress NZ.
In my view there are only three things that are important. Housing, health and education. Labour hasn’t measured up on any of them. Double the salaries of all who are in education and health and create a bank that provides a fixed low interest rate for thirty years. Forget about the potholes….
Can’t believe this decision. What is the point of labour? Would have rather hipkins lost standing for something. Moving overseas next year. Luxon as PM will do my head in.
vote for winston - he should induce three years of political paralysis which might be the least worst outcome from the present pick.
Obviously the focus is on yesterday’s disappointing announcement from the PM choosing not to do some very minor redistribution to those in real need. But let’s not forget that NACT not only won’t introduce any sort of capital/wealth tax they propose to actively give tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of services. Why isn’t anybody getting worked up about that?
That's what is expected of a centre right NACT coalition and people who want that can vote it. Those who don't want it would like to have an alternative to vote for, which is nominally a Labour led Government. The disappointment is the alternative is proving itself not to be an alternative at all.
Exactly! I’ve voted both for National and for Labour in the (fairly distant) past, depending on what I thought was right for our country at the time. I’m not angry at National, despite the damage some of their policies have done, because what they did was largely expected. It was their mandate, if you like. But, I am very angry at Labour for their betrayal and lies and for misleading the public by going against their mandate. Ardern started it and Hipkins has just finished it.
a large number of people are incensed at/by Act's and National's policies to give tax advantages/breaks to the already wealthy, which will entrench wealth in NZ to those who already have wealth. many would have voted for Labour at the next election but not now after Hipkins recent announcement to not introduce a capital gains tax in NZ.
I'm appalled at this decision by Chris Hipkins.
The press conference held by Grant Robertson yesterday was particularly interesting and perhaps this shows a crack in the foundation of the current Labour Party.
Very nervous of the political swing back to the right with National/Act and fear that a lot of good progress will be lost. I can now sit hopeful of a consolation prize - Labour bleeding seats to other parties on the left.
+ excellent writing on this as always Bernard
What a depressing start to the day! Or is just the cold shower we all need to shake us out of the she'll be rights?
We need rapid transformation of our economy and that takes courageous and compassionate leaders. Chris Hipkins has just definitively ruled himself out. The signs haven't been great since he arrived in the chair but every week he looks more and more cautious and spineless. Who would be a better option to lead Labour, someone with a heart, a spine and a strong stomach? Grant Robertson can take a flying leap with his mealy words about fairness.
I'll be voting Green, immediately donating to their campaign and encouraging others to do the same.
I feel like we need some protesting in the streets. We're not going to get the transformation we need or want without fighting for it. Thanks for poking us into action!
I get it, but the Greens have been seen to enable this behaviour from the Government, all but silently over years (not days). And now, finally, begin to speak up?? So it's the trust factor that's missing - how can voters know what non-negotiables will be abandoned post-election under such status quo politics. I agree with someone else on here who recently pointed out we need democratic reform of our governance structure. In this deep set of crises we are in, the green versus blue versus red etc is a combative game we don't have time to engage in. There are positive ideas on all 'sides' and we need collaboration and shared ideas to respond on an emergency footing.
As a present Labour member I agree with you Sonya. I'll resign my membership and transfer and associated donations it to the Greens. Labour has shown itself to be spineless, and what could have been an election winner has now disappeared. Despite what you have said previously Bernard about the Greens, I feel as though I can support them with a clear conscience.
Yep. Green pen out. Others are indistinguishable. Mud.
The more I think about it ... who were they scared about the pushback from? What kind of public sympathy would be out there for anyone who found themselves affected by the new wealth tax (family home excluded?) What exactly is the point of the Labour Party again?
Land value tax? Do you reckon that’s included in Hipkin’s ruling out?
Cant see an LVT to garnish the sausage rolls, if you want an LVT just vote for Raf/TOP
Yeah probably right.
I have helped with TOP campaigns in the past, but I'm very unlikely to be voting for them this round... Even if they get in (probably more of a longshot than even NZ-First), their persistent 'centrism' will essentially prop up NAct. The shame is many of their policies have had merit in the past, but they've picked idiotic hills to die on (for example, 100% house deposits, and no mortgage deduction on their LVT); and a series of beneficial policies (Teal card, UBI, tax-free threasholds, GST-funded infrastructure) that completely depend on those other inconceivable policies to be implemented... it's perhaps the most frustrating thing to happen to a political party since Peter Dunne's batshit tailgaters in 2002.
Same. I voted for them last time but probably not this time for the same reasons. Hoping they’ll go into a coalition with Greens and TPM. No way I’m voting either National or Labour though. TOP is still preferable to either of them.
Hmmm... My thoughts too. Would be the best .. 👍
Hipkins is being the worst sort of coward here. A disingenuous one who is more concerned about his (and Grant's) ability to "out-austerity" the right wing. Saying Labour "has no mandate" when we have a recent poll unequivocally saying otherwise is gaslighting.
Neoliberal disinfo has destroyed Aotearoa. Inequality and lost agency will drive societal cohesion to new lows and by looking around at international examples we all know what comes next. A populist strongman will capitalise on the fear and anger of the disaffected, and any chance at retaining a liberal democracy will be chucked into the grinder of fascism.
Say hello to a generation of climate disasters, economic collapse, and general ugliness if we're going to be governed by Luxon's property portfolio.
Grant didn't look/sound particularly happy about it in his TV statement yesterday
Amazing that even he couldn't talk some sense in to the PM. When it goes to far for Robertson, that's saying a lot.
I don’t understand ‘no mandate’ ... if working in favour of the vast majority of your supporters is not a mandate, what is? Are they saying everything has to be an election issue? Where’s the policy coherency if so? No sense.
Has Labour just given us the incentive to use our MMP electoral system to smash FPP once and for all? I have been waiting a long time to see that happen, and there are some good credible options on the left, so I have faith all is not lost.