Proposed tax cuts

[homer]

Ah! Homer is Management material. Or a Union rep.

I so wish

Right off to sleep
Btw couple nice machines you have there to
checking the profile
later

[Deano]

how is it your not better off than someone earning signifacantly less??

Working for families and me being JUST over the threshold.

I am about $1500 better off per year than someone in the same situation as me who actually earns about $20000 less. (And perhaps has a cruisier job, or works less hours and spends more time with their family.)

Where is the incentive to get ahead ?

With every salary increase, the more money you earn, the bigger the increase. The rich get richer, the poor get topped up with benefits, the middle class bears the brunt.

Given time, every wage earner will be earning over $60000 and therefore a % of their wage will be taxed at the highest rate. Is this sustainable ?

The govt makes more and more as people wages increase.

Also takes more money as inflation affects GST. And fuel tax, despite the price of fuel rocketing, the tax rate remains the same = more money in the Govt coffers.

[jrandom]

Ah, the death throes of an administration. This 'tax cut' is a meaningless waste of money.

Human nature's a bitch, isn't it?

The fine ideals of socialism so easily lead to bloated bureaucracies and relentlessly-growing hordes of the lazy.

And the fine ideals of capitalism so easily lead to corrupt oligarchies and stifling monopolies.

A balance is hard to find, and in practice seems to be best implemented by firing Governments and replacing them with an administration of an opposed ideology at reasonably regular intervals, before failings can become too deeply entrenched.

I suppose we'll have a National-led government at the next election. We'll just have to hope that that bunch of bumbling fools will manage not to cock things up too badly.

It's a shame that the citizens of this country don't investigate the policy offerings of other parties; we could, if voters woke up and paid attention, be implementing some genuinely fresh economic ideas.

[MisterD]

Remember Fisher & Paykel. In 2008, they won't have an operation in NZ.

Incorrect. Laundry manufacturing moves to Thailand mid this year, and the Electronics line follows probably a year later. Refrigeration is, so far, staying here and I'd bet on it being here for the next 5years at least. If anything it's the Brisbane refrige plant that's looking precarious...

Doesn't alter the basic trends or invalidate your argument though.

[Deano]

This 'tax cut' is a meaningless waste of money..

It's just a pathetic bribe IMO.

$15 doesn't last long in my gas tank so I would rather it was spent WISELY/EFFICIENTLY on health or policing for example.

And while I'm not rich - I can afford to turn down the $15, so what is $15 to people earning more ?

[jrandom]

Remember Fisher & Paykel. In 2008, they won't have an operation in NZ...

Not entirely correct.

They won't have a manufacturing operation in NZ, and in my opinion, that's as it should be. The handful of acquaintances I have in the F&P engineering teams tend to agree with me.

There are plenty of places in the world full of little brown people who are happy to do mindless assembly work for a cup of rice a day, and which are nice and close to large shipping hubs to facilitate export to American and European markets. Even if you could talk the lower classes here into doing unskilled work for ridiculously low wages, you'd still suffer from the inefficiencies of our geographical isolation.

New Zealand's natural place in the order of things is to grow woodchips and milk powder and be a scenic place for smart people to live while they generate valuable intellectual property.

[Hitcher]

A National-led government indeed. While one longs for a change in administration, one is not sure whether the Nats are capable of forming a workable coalition with a third (or even a fourth) party, which they will need to do to govern under MMP. Despite what the polls are suggesting, MMP will conspire against the prospect of a single-party government -- it's designed to do that.

Secondly, one is not sure whether one can actually trust a National administration. Indeed one in unconvinced as to whether the National Party trusts itself. There are some key (excuse the inevitable pun) issues where the Nats are potentially out of step with the electorate and may do something silly. For example, nuclear ships, superannuation, state assets, education and health. Add employment law for good measure, and there is enough uncertainty to make a considerable chunk of middle New Zealand continue to vote for the soft-cock, paternalistic lefties and their assorted camp followers of fruit, nuts and losers.

Sigh.

[yungatart]

$15 per week is a pathetic, patronising attempt to get me to vote Labour.

It will make no difference in our household and I would far rather they took the $1.5 billion and put it somewhere it could make a difference to my life... education, roading, and health.

[MisterD]

Not entirely correct.

They won't have a manufacturing operation in NZ, and in my opinion, that's as it should be. The handful of acquaintances I have in the F&P engineering teams tend to agree with me.

There are plenty of places in the world full of little brown people who are happy to do mindless assembly work for a cup of rice a day, and which are nice and close to large shipping hubs to facilitate export to American and European markets. Even if you could talk the lower classes here into doing unskilled work for ridiculously low wages, you'd still suffer from the inefficiencies of our geographical isolation.

You obviously missed my correction to Finn's post...

Anyhoo, from what I was hearing from, shall we say, more business oriented folk at F&P, it's looking more and more like a larger than chewable amount has been bitten off vis a vis the Thailand move. I don't think they have a sh1t show of getting the same productivity out of Thailand's little brown people, as they do out of South Auckland's big brown people.

New Zealand's natural place in the order of things is to grow woodchips and milk powder and be a scenic place for smart people to live while they generate valuable intellectual property.

I don't think that's a given, ok shipping what is effectively a big box of air isn't efficient, but there has to be a way to keep high value manufacturing here - and it does look like Navico will prove that point...even if their low cost stuff is done in Mexico.

[jrandom]

... it's looking more and more like a larger than chewable amount has been bitten off vis a vis the Thailand move. I don't think they have a sh1t show of getting the same productivity out of Thailand's little brown people, as they do out of South Auckland's big brown people.

Yup, always the way. It entirely depends which contract manufacturer one deals with, of course. Letting accountants make that decision is a fast road to disaster. One doesn't want to compromise too far.

it does look like Navico will prove that point...even if their low cost stuff is done in Mexico.

Heh, are they building in Mexico now?

Foolish sea monkeys.

Still, goodness knows there were enough problems with the manufacturing in Northcote. Quality control actually got better at one point after they moved product lines to a CM in Shenzhen, back in the day when we were all one happy company.

[devnull]

High time this country received a complete overhaul...

Flat tax system has a lot of benefits. Rather than copy & paste stuff, have a read of this article:

http://www.nzcpr.com/weekly105.htm

Certainly food for thought.

As for the current disaster that's the welfare system, when will politicians grow some balls and own the damn problem? They whine about levels of violence and abuse, yet their actions serve to make the problem worse.

Have a read of Theodore Dalrymple's article

http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_4_oh_to_be.html

Though it discusses the social problems in the U.K., the parallels between there and here are pretty clear.

Sorry socialists, left-wing politics has done one hell of a lot of damage to this country. I'm not saying that a National govt will be much better, but at this stage they are the lesser of two evils.

But I doubt that they'll have the courage to address the root cause of the problem, and overhaul the failing systems that have developed a bureaucratic mind of their own e.g. health, education, welfare.

Fixing the tax system to encourage investment in business (which in turn leads to better wages and economic growth), is just the tip of the iceberg. There's an awful lot of stuff that needs to be fixed.... who has the balls to do it?

[MisterD]

Heh, are they building in Mexico now?

It's the Lowrance plant there.

[Finn]

Incorrect. Laundry manufacturing moves to Thailand mid this year, and the Electronics line follows probably a year later. Refrigeration is, so far, staying here and I'd bet on it being here for the next 5years at least. If anything it's the Brisbane refrige plant that's looking precarious...

Doesn't alter the basic trends or invalidate your argument though.

Watch what happens in 2008. Their Finance arm is already up for sale. More to come.

[ManDownUnder]

Question - do people on the dole get a tax cut too? And if so - does it come out of their own pockets? If it doesn't then it's coming out of essential services... which pleases me even less.

Tax cuts - too little too late... and (what a co-incidence) announced at the same time as the Freedom of Speech Limitation Electoral Finance Bill is passed. Bloody crock the lot of it.

[skelstar]

$15!!!

I'm off to McDonalds for lunch! (and I'll do the same next week!!!)