The Independent, 6 September 2000

The Independent, 6 September 2000:

Front page:

- Government signals rethink on r + d tax breaks - Cullen said to be studying schemes generated by Ernst & Young in consultation with corporate clients and a submission from Auckland infrastructure company Tradex NZ Ltd;

- Dairy Board pays $328 million for 51% stake in Brazilian milk products company already turning over more than $600 million annually;

- Enza confronts board rebels - new chairman Tony Gibbs, of GPG, refuses to take up cudgels for deregulation, as demanded by a major grower who is under investigation for possible breach of Enza-biased apple export permits, used for the first time last season;

- IRD is prosecuting far more small taxpayers than corporates for tax evasion and carelessness, taking most of the $10 million clawed back last year from individuals and small businesses. IRD says that's because there are far more small than large taxpayers;

- yet another business survey finds evidence of the confidence collapse, this time from Dun & Bradstreet;

Elsewhere in the paper:

- Cullen to investigate concerns that Industry New Zealand - Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton's baby - is relatively unaccountable. Concerns raised by rival agency Trade New Zealand official at Export Institute dinner;

- yet another government IT bungle - primary production select committee asks whether the Landonline project to digitise property titles and surveys. The project has blown to $140 million, while its on-going value has slumped to $36 million, assuming it can be made to work;

- Employers Federation to poll members scientifically to determine truth of ACC claim that most employers are paying lower premiums than in the brief era of competitive provision;

- investors in the 29 Waltus property syndicates voted overwhelmingly in favour of a merger proposal, despite the Securities Commission cancelling the offer document last week for being "false and misleading as to a material particular", the first such cancellation since 1984;

- The Warehouse share price is looking toppy, reckons an analyst at brokers ABN Ambro;

- the two companies behind ill-fated apartment development on the site of the old Globe Hotel, Auckland, are placed in liquidation;

- Kiwi dairy co-operative is to merge its Mainland Products business with Perth-based Peters & Brownes Foods, creating NZ's fifth largest

- Chris Trotter says Clark should have sacked Turia;

ends

- statistics released in the last week show retail trade remains weak;

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