Social democracy meets social networking
GST at 15%
"Can the Prime Minister please tell us whether he plans to raise GST to fund tax cuts for him and his rich mates?"
New Zealand already has one of the lowest tax rates in the OECD (2nd or 3rd lowest depending on the measure), so their line about needing lower rates to stop people leaving isn't sustainable. The only people who pay less tax by moving to Australia are in fact the low paid, so any capital gains / land tax should pay for movement at the bottom of the income tax bracket, not the top.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bruce Rogan on -
Difficulty with your premise Ben. The thing that distinguishes national from Labour is their respective attitude towards planning. National is opposed in principle to planning because their philosophy, if you can call it that, is that there should be no government at all in an ideal world, and the smallest possible one in the real world. Therefore, if you asked Key if he PLANS to raise GST he would be able to look at you with that mixture of contempt and condescension that he has mastered and say in all honesty that he has no plans whatsoever. He has a GOAL to take care of his friends and supporters, and his own personal well-being, and on a day-by-day basis that is exactly what he will strive for. In your blog you have probably given National the best reason they could ever have for increasing the tax burden on the poor- it will make them emigrate. Australia now, next year Fiji, 2012, Haiti?
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Permalink Reply by John LANGDON on -
The basic difference between Labour and National SHOULD BE how society is organised; cooperative or competitive. Both Key and Goff are good, decent, caring people...Goff, unfortunately, cannot bring himself to promote a cooperative/socialist/whanau type society..Key promotes the concept of the caring, competitive society very well..It is difficult to work out what Goff is promoting..GST is basically no more than an income raising device..Both a capitalist and a socialist society can have GST without detracting from basic philosophies...The question is how GST is organised...Many western OECD countries have no GST on food, to ensure the poor do not suffer.. Labour, therefore, should be promoting no GST, whatever the level of GST, on food , to show its philosophical difference from National.. The argument about the amount of GST is irrelevant in a capitalist/socialist debate..AND if people in Labour want to say that socialism should not be mentioned,they should be told about Article 5 of the Party's Aims and Objectives ..If they wish to forget socialism they should leave the Labour Party and advance their career in the National Party where they belong
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