Government screws savers?

[Maki]

Can someone help me to understand something. It seems like an evil, almost criminal scam to me, but is that possible with the NZ government behind it and nobody seems to be complaining?

The thing is, if you save your money and put it into something like a bank account or some investment the government takes a huge chunk out of any interest/gains you make but if you lose money the government does not want to know. Is that fair? To me it seems ridiculous and bordering on the criminal, definitely a huge disinsentive for saving, unless of course you are investing in property.

Of course property is non productive so why should investors be rewarded for investing in that and not productive entities?

I am sure the answer to all this is staring me in the face, clearly the government is neither ignorant, short sighted, criminally greedy or stupid. So, can someone help me out?

[Drum]

So if you lose money you want the government to give you some back is that right?

[Maki]

So if you lose money you want the government to give you some back is that right?

Actually no. I think they should only take a reasonable amount of your interest, something like 10%. When they take as much as 30% I think they should help you out when you lose money.

Lets say you invest a certain amount, some years you lose and the government does not care, other years you make money and the government takes 30% or whatever. Keep this up for a number of years and the government effectively ends up taking a lot more than %30 of your interest. That does not seem fair to me.

Lets say you invest $100 and gain some years but lose others. During the years you gained the government takes it's chunk but on the others it ignores you. Let's say you made some bad choices so at the end of 10 years you still have just $100. You made nothing in the end, but the government STILL took your money during the good years. Is that fair?

Is this so hard for people to get their heads around that they don't see it. or just don't care?

[Maki]

And another thing, the chunk the government takes is NOT inflation adjusted. Lets say you get 9% interest while inflation is running at 6%. Your effective interest is therefore just 3% and the government takes almost ALL of that. Seems crazy, you would be better off buying a chunk of silver and putting it under your pillow.

I just don't see how the current policy encourages savings and productive investment. Maybe it's because it doesn't...

[Oakie]

Interest is revenue. You pay tax on any revenue.
Tax is for meeting the expenses of running this wonderful country amongst the people who have made revenue from this wonderful country.

The other side (I lost money ... pay me something) is:

Welfare Benefits (Unemployment, Sickness, Superannuation)
ACC
Free hospital care
'free' education
etc etc

[Maki]

Interest is revenue. You pay tax on any revenue.
Tax is for meeting the expenses of running this wonderful country amongst the people who have made revenue from this wonderful country.

The other side (I lost money ... pay me something) is:

Welfare Benefits (Unemployment, Sickness, Superannuation)
ACC
Free hospital care
'free' education
etc etc

It's not revenue if after paying tax and adjusting for inflation you have nothing, or less than nothing, is it? I guess the solution is to put on a neck brace and claim a sickness benefit. Seems like most people are encouraged to do that for the benefit of us all... No wonder wages here are much higher here than average for developed nations...

[WarlockNZ]

incorporate your own company, that way if you can prove that you made a loss, you can claim money back.

Simple really.

[Maki]

incorporate your own company, that way if you can prove that you made a loss, you can claim money back.

Simple really.

Thanks, that makes sense.

[carver]

socialisim must be paid for somehow

[bobsmith]

Sooooo you're complaining about the government taxing us about 30% on the interest???

You know what's REALLY CRIMINAL? Them taking a third of my hard earned money every paycheck. Now that hurts.

[Drum]

Do you use any of the services provided by the state? How do you think these are paid for?

Now don't get me wrong - I pay tax at a marginal rate of 39% and would dearly love to pay less. But if you want to live in a taxless society you were born a few centurys late....

http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm

[carver]

Do you use any of the services provided by the state? How do you think these are paid for?

Now don't get me wrong - I pay tax at a marginal rate of 39% and would dearly love to pay less. But if you want to live in a taxless society you were born a few centurys late....

http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm

not many, if any!
id rather have user pays!

[sidecar bob]

not many, if any!
id rather have user pays!

Thats fine if every user pays, But i get a bit ticked off when the benificiaries get a special discount to compensate them for their loser status.
The most loser comment i can ever recall being spat at me by a bitter & twisted benificiary was "I pay tax on my benifit", "Well guess what Einstein, Your benifit is my tax".

[Headbanger]

I wouldn't mind tax so much if it wasn't wasted on shitbags and bullshit. If you wiped out half the crap that is pure waste we could all live a little better.

When I say all, I mean those of us that work for a living, Not those that live off our work, They can get fucked ten ways till Sunday.

[TimeOut]

Sooooo you're complaining about the government taxing us about 30% on the interest???

You know what's REALLY CRIMINAL? Them taking a third of my hard earned money every paycheck. Now that hurts.

And when you spend some of that 60% they take another 12.5%