Gordon Campbell: Problems Making Tax Cuts Stack Up

Would scrapping the depreciation rules on rental residential property really deliver the $1.6 billion promised? Leave aside the unfairness involved in transferring wealth from low and middle income earners in order to provide tax relief for the tiny band who are currently cringing under the lash of our top tax rate... More>>

ALSO:

• Scoop Business - English expands on tax package parameters
• Labour - Government double-whammy hits working poor
• Labour - English Evades Tax Questions
• Business Council for Sustainable Dev - Long term benefits to tax reform
• Libertarianz Party - 'National Not Going Raise GST' - Yeah Right
• Child Poverty Action Group - Forget Tax Cuts for the Rich, Focus On Poverty
• NZ Alliance Party - Maori Party Needs To Show Principle Over GST Hike
• NZ Alliance Party - Robin Hood tax needed – not robbin' the people
• Federated Farmers - Federated Farmers on Budget Policy Statement
• NZ Private Equity and Venture Capital Assn - Govt On Right Track To Lift Economic Performance
• Scoop Audio - 95bFM: Manning & Deady - Key's Give n Take Gamble

Keith Rankin: Response To The Prime Minister's Tax Announcement

Yesterday's tax announcement has disturbing implications for democracy in New Zealand. This government was elected in 2008 - despite concerns that it might have a hidden agenda - on the promise of a programme of tax cuts that would mainly benefit middle income earners. More>>

Gordon Campbell: On John Key’s Agenda For The Nation

There seemed to be three main components to John Key’s speech :

a) tax cuts largely paid for by a hike in GST
b) mining in national parks and on conservation land, while building more roads.
c) giving firms easier access to the r&d from Crown Research Institutes, so that business can continue to get the taxpayer to pick up the tab for the research that keeps them competitive.

After all, corporate welfare is always such a blessed thing – its only social welfare that corrodes enterprise and ambition. More>>

ALSO:

• Out-Link - OnPoint: Tax cut zombies
• PM's Science Advisor - PM's Chief Science Adviser on Statement
• Unite Union - National has No Love For Workers this Valentine's
• Inbound Tourism Operators Council - GST increase will penalise inbound tour operators
• Public Health Association - Families Must Be Compensated for Any GST Increase
• TV3 Video - Outrage over plans to mine conservation land
• TV3 Video - GST increase will hurt low income families - critics

Scoop Business: Will Good Politics Fix Broken Tax System?

Prime Minister John Key is obsessed with two things about the New Zealand economy. One is the fact that productive industry has been shrinking as proportion of the economy for more than five years.

The other is the price of houses – an issue that Reserve Bank governors and other politicians have identified for years and done nothing about. More>>

ALSO:

Economy: PM's Presser – No Taxation Without Presentation

Speculation was rife in Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference, but John Key was having none of it. The Prime Minister said little on the eve of his statement to Parliament, which is tipped to focus heavily on an overhaul of the tax system. More>>

Previews: Personal Income Tax Reform In New Zealand

While I agree that the system is far from perfect, few of us understand the basics of our present personal tax scales, and workable suggestions of alternatives are few and far between. More>>

ALSO:

• Rory MacKinnon - PM's Presser - No Taxation Without Presentation
• Scoop Business - NZ dollar trades near 5-mth low ahead of PM speech
• ACT - The Speech That Goff Should Deliver
• Property Council Of NZ - Proposals May Damage Production, Reduce Saving
• QV Valuations - Signs Of Uncertainty In The Property Market
• The Kiwi Party - KIWI PARTY and Tax Changes - Summary Version
• Auckland Chamber of Commerce - Deductions For Depreciation An Issue Of Fairness
• Auckland Chamber of Commerce - First $10,000 Should Be Tax Free
• TV3 Video - Key confident he'll get support for tax changes
• TV3 Video - Housing market falls flat ahead of tax announcement

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Urewera Raids: 'Operation 8' Trials Begin Today

Annemarie Thorby of the October 15 Solidarity Group: Over four years ago in New Zealand, on October 15th 2007, more than 300 police carried out dawn raids on scores of houses.

That was the day more than 60 homes up and down the country were raided, 17 people arrested and the Tuhoe community of Ruatoki, a small rural town in the Te Urewera region of the Bay of Plenty was locked down... More>>