As if to squeeze the most out of the short parliamentary term, the Government has been busy with a flurry of initiatives. Such a hurry can be costly. Read more
The Tax Working Group released this week its much-anticipated “Future of Tax” report, which recommends introducing a broad-based taxation of capital gains at full income rates. As proposed, the 33% headline rate would be one of the highest among industrialised economies. Read more
Canadian psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson has a lot to answer for. At least he does according to Auckland Peace Action spokesman Iris Krzyzosiak. Read more
Patrick Carvalho joins Peter Williams on Magic Talk with his take on the Tax Working Group report and the impact of a proposed capital gains tax. He explains why the broad-based top rate of 33% CGT would push New Zealand to the top of the international CGT rankings among industrialised economies, just behind Denmark and Finland. Read more
Some folks take the wrong lesson from intermediate microeconomics – or never took the course in the first place. I worry that too many of them staff Wellington’s bureaus. Read more
Executive SummaryTax Working Group’s proposed rate of capital gains tax one of the most penal in the world. The Tax Working Group’s report proposes a broad-based top rate of 33% capital gains tax. Read more
Wellington (21 February 2019): The Tax Working Group’s report released today proposes a broad-based top rate of 33% capital gains tax (CGT). The New Zealand Initiative argues in a new policy note, The Pitfalls of CGT, that headline rate would immediately push New Zealand to the top of the international CGT rankings among industrialised economies, just behind Denmark and Finland. Read more
The Tax Working Group’s report proposes a broad-based top rate of 33% capital gains tax (CGT). Patrick Carvalho explains to Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB why fully taxing capital gains would likely have undesirable effects on productivity, investment and growth, and impose significant compliance costs. Read more
If success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm, then German economics minister Peter Altmaier is on a winning streak. Just as Airbus was about to announce the end of its A380 production, Altmaier presented his vision for Germany’s future industrial policy. Read more
Only the officials at Inland Revenue know why they commissioned a poll on Kiwis’ attitudes to tax that included questions about the respondents’ general political orientation. Releasing the polling data should be part of fixing any perceived problems. Hamish Rutherford’s reporting at the Dominion Post raises questions about the Department’s political impartiality. Read more
“When equality is given to unequal things, the resultant will be unequal,” Plato once said. The ancient Greek philosopher would then have certainly condemned our local governance rules. Read more
Lime scooters are Satan’s own vehicle. If you ride one, you will lose control, scrape your knees, maybe even break a leg. Read more
Read our submission to the New Zealand Productivity Commission on their Local Government Funding and Financing Issues Paper (November 2018). Read more
What can politicians who care about value for money in government hope to achieve? Where should they focus their efforts? Read more
New Zealand gets a lot of things right that the rest of the world gets wrong. Where other countries screw up their goods and services taxes by exempting politically sensitive goods, New Zealand’s GST raises a lot of money at a relatively low tax rate by maintaining a broad base without exemptions. Read more