The Greens wealth tax

[Lilith7]

I think the important point is to remember too, that we didn't always have this yawning great gap between rich & poor; that was delivered courtesy of Neo Liberalism - imposed very swiftly & without warning, we're now suffering the consequences of it.

We know therefore that we can do far better & desperately need to do so as fast as possible.

There isn't really a yawning gap between rich and poor. Like everything else, everyone is on a continuum between two extremes. A few people are in real poverty and need more help. Many think they are living badly but could do a lot better under their own steam. Most people are somewhere in the middle ground, and the problem with the Green tax proposal is that it captures too many of those as being "rich" when really they are not. And it would drag them backwards. And if they go backwards, so does everyone on the downwards side of that. Lower and middle income NZers need some tax breaks, but taking it from exactly that group doesn't make sense, yet that's what this proposal does. And most of the rest of the take under this proposal would come from those who are providing food and essential services, creating a flow down that again hits the poorest the hardest.

We don't want to be one of those countries where all the wealthy leave. We don't want to be one of those countries where only the super rich get to own property. We have a great economy now where the average "Mum and Dad" can own a home and get themselves into a reasonable investment to look after themselves in retirement. If we make that too hard/expensive then they end up being poor. It is hardly fair to take from those who have lived frugally to ensure a reasonable retirement just to give it to those who are wasteful and therefore have nothing.

There are postings above from people who know. And there are comments from people who just don't have a clue how anyone except themselves lives. People need to listen to those who actually know about the subject under discussion, like accountants and others who work for people across all walks of life and are in a position to see life's realities first hand.

I also saw CGT mentioned as usual. Why is it so difficult to understand that we don't need CGT, or silly "bright line" rules, because we have income tax? We have a law that claims income tax on anything that is bought with an intention to sell. Whether it is a $2 trinket on TM, or a house. If you bought it with an intention to onsell you need to pay income tax on the profit (whilst accounting for expenses). We don't need more legislation when it is already covered and just needs IRD to do its job. That would go a long way towards balancing the country's books.

That really is total bollocks & in these dire times its extremely sad that anyone can believe it.

Some postings from the people who know:


2023

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/3...nd-poorest

"Households did it tough in 2022, with renters clobbered hardest by high inflation and housing costs, data released by Stats NZ shows. But with June inflation running at over 7% for the first time since the 1990s, many households found themselves going backwards.

Researchers for Stats NZ calculated around 155,000 households did not feel they had enough income to meet their everyday basic needs.

Another 460,000 households were just making ends meet.

Stats NZ also calculated the shares of “equivalised” disposable income earned by households.

It found the bottom 20% of households earned just 7.9% of the total disposable income earned in the country.

The top-earning 20% of households, meanwhile, earned nearly 38% of the collective total income.

Poverty researcher Max Rashbrooke said: “If you survey New Zealanders, you find most think it’s a much closer, more even distribution of wealth.”

He said people underestimated how little the lowest-earners actually got, and how much of the highest income earners got.

While New Zealanders felt people’s work and skill should be rewarded, Rashbrooke said: “I don’t think people would say the richest people should only have 20% of the income, but I think they would say they are getting far above the share they should be getting.”

“Unaffordable housing can lead to financial stress and less money left over for other household needs,” said Stats NZ’s wealth and poverty statistics manager Andrew Neal.

“It means less money can go towards things like using a heater in winter or covering an unexpected cost like a washing machine breaking,” he said."

It seems I'm not the only one to actually perceive that yawning gap...

2023
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/26-04-...zealanders

[b]"Shocking new IRD data reveals the average wage earner taxed at twice the rate of the wealthiest New Zealanders[/b]

The results of a landmark IRD study of a group of very wealthy New Zealanders have just been released, revealing a yawning gap between the group’s towering effective incomes, which have a median of around $8m per year, and the corresponding tax rate, which comes in at 9.4%, after benefits are subtracted and GST paid is added in. The equivalent rate for a median wage earner is 20.2% – more than double that paid by this group, comprising of some of the wealthiest New Zealanders.

 Parker concludes by saying the reports provide “a fundamental baseline for debate on the fairness of our tax system, allowing future tax policy to be based on better data and more solid evidence.”



While that may - somehow - seem fair to some, most of us would disagree.