Ok so after 9 years what have they done?

[Zookey]

For all its worth; my Neighbor is a toll man,and with all the carping that goes on here in the Bay over the Napier Gizzy line not being used he told me they shift 100,000 tonnes a week now let me see them carry that with Trucks on one of the best Motorcycling roads in the country.

[RantyDave]

if you can't tell the difference between smacking and abuse you shouldn't have kids

Absolutely. But you can't go round giving violent dipshits the snip, unfortunately.

Dave

[Dave Lobster]

Absolutely. But you can't go round giving violent dipshits the snip, unfortunately.

Dave

Not yet, anyway.

[merv]

For all its worth; my Neighbor is a toll man,and with all the carping that goes on here in the Bay over the Napier Gizzy line not being used he told me they shift 100,000 tonnes a week now let me see them carry that with Trucks on one of the best Motorcycling roads in the country.

Eggsackery lets get the trucks off the roads that have a parallel railway line and we'd all be happier. Go the Government that does this

[Swoop]

they gave me a block of cheese.......

You are lucky. I'm still waiting for my cheese, and the mouse is hungry.

[Conquiztador]

A few things - the effective tax rate in NZ is over 50% - income tax is only a small part of the picture. Don't forget company tax (paid for by consumers) excise duty, GST, rates, ACC, etc. It comes over 50% for many people. Further more, due to the low wage rates in NZ, the half that is left buys F -all.
The so called tax cut - if it arrives (the last one didn't) doesn't even make up for 9 years of inflation, and won't even pay for the extra GST take on fuel due to rising prices. Rob Muldoon loved fiscal drag, and Cullen is the master now.

Yep. You are right. But that is not different from other countries. When there is not a huge population you find that countries will have a higher tax rate to be able to run the country to a western standard. Lets just hope that whoever gets in will not scrap what is there and try to start from scratch, but instead finetune what we have.

Our ACC is something that many countries wish they had.
Prices on motor vehicles is very low here compared to western countries.
We have the cheapest booze in the western world (all other places tax it to death, perhaps we should too??)
Public health system is not a given in many countries: No private insurance and you have no way in.
Free dental service for school kids up to 18 yo's.

You have to remember that we are very far away from everywhere. Anything we export/import has an added cost that many other countries do not have to worry about.

[Conquiztador]

yes but that large amount of tax goes into free medical-university etc etc etc for everyone-so lets not be foolish and pretend we are better off.....

Well, we are probably not the country in thw world that has it all right. But in most cases we are not far of the mark. Yep, we all want less tax, higher wages, more police, free healtcare, more pension, better roads etc. But with just over 4 million people it gets tricky to do all that without taxing.

Take Norway. In the 70's and 80's they were really stuggling. And then they found oil. Now they have money to burn.

[FJRider]

You are lucky. I'm still waiting for my cheese, and the mouse is hungry.

Its the SECOND mouse that always gets the cheese...

[Flatcap]

We have the cheapest booze in the western world (all other places tax it to death, perhaps we should too??)
.

Why? What's wrong with booze? It unclogs my arteries and makes me feel nice.

[MIXONE]

Why? What's wrong with booze? It unclogs my arteries and makes me feel nice.

I'll drink to that.

[Storm]

Take Norway. In the 70's and 80's they were really stuggling. And then they found oil. Now they have money to burn.

So considering we've found shi^loads under the sea in Taranaki, why are we not loaded?

[smokeyging]

So considering we've found shi^loads under the sea in Taranaki, why are we not loaded?

Not to mention the south basin and off the coast of dunedin too plus a lot of others that were found by 'Hunt' back in the 70s

[Conquiztador]

So considering we've found shi^loads under the sea in Taranaki, why are we not loaded?

Not sure if there is "shitloads". I don't have all the facts and can't be bothered googling. But there is different qualities of it, also, if I remember right, our oil is deep down and we dont have heaps of platforms pumping it out. And correct me here if I am wrong, but I seem to remember that we are not doing that our selves, but contracting it out??? In any case I think the Norwegian oil was much easier to get to and they are pumping heaps more out from there??

But you do have a point: If we have oil and gas at our shores, surely it should increase our wealth and provide us with NZ petrol for a better price...

[jimbo600]

Oh FFS not this again. Removing the defence of "reasonable force" for violence against children is not the same as the state telling you how to raise your kids. It's exactly the same level of legal protection as adults have, and no more. Can I slap employees about in the workplace and pretend to be a good employer? They need to learn after all. And if I hear the phrase "Good Christian Parenting"(tm) applied one more time I'll resurrect Christ myself so he can come have a word with them.

Yep Chris Kahui murders his kids and walks. Eddy Punch clock flicks his kids ear in chch to prevent him from walking across a main road gets charged and done. Nice on Bradford

[jimbo600]

Actually, after a bit of digging I have found that this thread is in fact illegal under the terms of the EFA.

Curse us for speaking out against the incumbent govt. I think they're awesome. Honestly Helen I do really.