Copeland: “The Greens oppose it; we must be right”

The Green Party’s opposition to United Future’s call for the Government to hand back to taxpayers some of the billions of extra tax it has gathered over the past few years has convinced United Future’s revenue spokesperson Gordon Copeland that he’s on the right track.

“Given the Greens’ complete ignorance of sensible economics, any policy they oppose is certain to make sense to the vast majority of middle New Zealanders,” he said.

“Green co-leader Rod Donald seems obsessed with the idea that tax cuts benefit only the so-called rich. This proves his ignorance of economics is surpassed only by his ignorance of the English language.

“Seventy eight percent of all tax is paid by New Zealanders earning over $40,000 – hardly the highflying, grasping, exploiting capitalists that haunt Mr Donald’s fantasies. Even $60,000 is tight today for a couple raising kids.

“The fact is that the Government has gathered an extra $4.5 billion over the past three years and we think $714 million per annum of that should be handed back. Of that, $453 million will go to the 2.8 million taxpayers whose maximum tax rate will be 33 cents or less.

“It won’t break the bank and it will help those working New Zealanders to reap the benefits of their efforts – and what’s wrong with that?” said Mr Copeland.

© Scoop Media

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>>