Baldock: GST off rates - a tax cut that makes senses

United Future local government spokesman Larry Baldock echoed party leader Peter Dunne's call for the removal of GST on rates today.

"That's a tax cut that makes sense," he said.

"We hear calls for a reduction in the tax burden on New Zealanders frequently. We also hear about how local government is constantly being given more responsibilities by central government without the funding to assist in carrying out there obligations.

"Councils have no option but to pass on the costs through increased rates and user pays," the former Tauranga city councillor said.

"Removal of GST will give a real tax break to ratepayers. It will reduce the tax burden on many families struggling to pay their mortgages when interest rates rise, and those living on fixed incomes, such as retirees, who face heavy increases in their rate bills."

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>