The extraordinary decision by Chris Hipkins to rule out a wealth tax that would have seen every Kiwi gain $10000 tax free highlights just how badly Labour needs the courage of the Māori Party.
The plan that Grant Robertson had been working on quietly in the background would have seen the mega wealthy taxed a tiny amount to ensure every Kiwi’s first $10 000 was tax free, which would have seen everyone $20 better off each week.
The beauty of the plan was that it wasn’t going to target the rich or the wealthy, it was going to tax the mega wealthy. Not people who own their own home plus a batch plus the boat, but people who own 10 homes, multiple sports cars and several boats.
Chippy felt now was not the time to make the mega wealthy pay their fair share and went a step further by ruling it out forever.
The Māori Party however are very clear that the wealthy must pay their fair share and that’s why this election, the more votes the Māori Party get, the more chance they can force Chippy to accept the mega wealthy must pay their fair share.
First published on Waatea News.
Hipkins didn’t rule a wealth tax out forever, only as long as he is Labours leader.
89 days
And after 89 days the leader of the opposition Labour Party will announce that Labour do support a wealth tax. (at least until Labour are in government again at least).
Reporter: Can you rule out a wealth tax?
Answer: There are all kinds of taxes in a governments tool box some of them we use some of them stay in the box.
The -2% party can say whatever they want but they’re not gunna change anything. They’re just as neoliberal as the white guys are.
Yeah! Nah!
The Neolibs won’t do shit.
https://www.interest.co.nz/banking/123032/why-treasury-told-government-it-could-shouldnt-grab-slice-big-bank-profits-levy-or
If the new gen voter turnout can be encouraged, the worst of the boomers are going down–even if it is by just 1–2 paraliamentary seats!
n.b. stereotyping is never great, I am a “boomer” as defined by others, and so are thousands of decent people, including those hit by elder poverty, and those that have stood up over their years for many social and class left issues.
This is the last gasp though of the old school Natzo conservatives, reactionaries and torys. The next lot of younger right wing arseholes are already supporting Act. And a stubborn percentage are going down various increasingly “whack–a–doodle” rabbit holes, and who knows where they all might pop up…
Labour have actually been dragged to support a number of good things including FPAs, 26 weeks PPL, biggest minimum wage increases ever, more on Living Wage, etc. etc. but they needed to do a hell of a lot more and if Natzos & Actoids can be kept from office on October 14 they WILL be forced to by new movements if necessary.
If they turn out? That’s a big if. There are a lot of disillusioned voters, who will they vote for? Or will they even vote? History says no.
Martyn – 100% Correct
LINO needs TMP? What, to help them push through their ethnostate agenda?
Do you remember the olden days @ Pope, of the petrol engine where one needed to pull the choke full on to get the bastard started?
It’s probably exactly what’s needed now to get rid of the bloody inertia of the big two on the left. When they start running again properly, without the need for the egotisticals of a bit of engine start spray, we might be able to get back to something sensible.
It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. One of the problems at the moment is that there are focus groups, committees and highly paid ticket clipper consultants running around wondering how they’re going to understand the bleeding bloody obvious (in this space, going forward). It’s quite possible it might take an election loss and a big turn for the worse. Que sera sera
Tax the rich!
WARNING! Analogy Alert!
A Public, Royal Commission of Inquiry into and up the rich, never mind taxing the bastards because that just legitimises the crooked shit they do and have done. Taxing the rich effectively launders them thus automatically absolves them of the crimes they’ve committed therefore fuck that.
How do we have 14 multi-billionaires, 3118 multi-millionaires with bank accounts in access of $50 million each and four now foreign owned banksters stealing $180.00 a second in net profits annually from a solely agrarian export economy again?
Farmers? Yoo Hoo?
Take note of this little event. Nothing really.
The Guardian.
“Actors on strike: Hollywood stars join the picket line – in pictures
With a Screen Actors Guild strike joining the recent Writers Guild of America strike, major names such as Olivia Wilde and Susan Sarandon have been showing their support at protests in New York and Los Angeles”
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2023/jul/17/hollywood-actors-on-strike-in-pictures
I particularly liked this little line.
The Richard Jewell star and director of Don’t Worry Darling shared a story to her Instagram followers, addressing the studios: ‘You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us’
* ‘You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us’ A metaphor for food production and foreign revenue earnings or what?
Susan Sarandon
“It’s clear that nothing is going to change from the top down – it’s going to be up to us at the bottom’”
Allison Janney
The Oscar-winning star of I, Tonya and The West Wing shared her support on Instagram.
Her placard reads ” Name you’re favourite movie without actors.”
I’d ask ” Name your favourite supermarket or restaurant without food. ”
Farmers… cockies… listen Mates. It’s up to you to reinvent AO/NZ into something remarkable. We’re seeing climate change which will lead to global hunger, starvation and death. We’re essentially deeply fucked and we will need you guys in top form to pitch in. You’re not going to be able to do that while also supporting multi-billionaires, multi-millionaires, four foreign owned banks stealing $180.00 a second in what’s essentially your money digested through city people who wouldn’t know a sheep’s arse hole from its eyeball.
One word of sage advice farmers…
Strike. Time’s running out.
P.S.
The Maori Party..? Thanks to ACT’s roger’s neo-liberalism most Maori are in prison and Labour’s as unrepentant as the natzos for still waving the neo-liberal flag. The Labour Party should court the filthy famah dahling so I wonder, why haven’t you offered that up as a possibility? The famah has the money but not the numbers and besides, they’re busy giving blow jobs to the natzo’s so they can’t look up to see a new alternative to the abusive, logical fallacy, virtual reality the Natzo’s have our farmers imprisoned within.
Huh?
We cannot afford to keep changing policy in the health and education, we need the two main parties to have a bipartisan approach as the constant changes are hurting us every time, we have a change of government.
are the MP any less ‘bribable’ than labs and nats?
If the General Election was held today:
– NZFirst would get my party vote.
– National would VERY reluctantly get my electoral vote.
A week ago my party vote would have gone to ACT. I’m definitely shopping around and ACT could end up with my party vote come October 14th.
You literally want to vote for people who will withhold payrises from lower paid workers.
To hell with every version of a wealth tax yet suggested. We should not tax wealth, which is an unrealized gain, we tax income.
Every dollar of income I earn thru my Labour is taxed and because I don’t earn much I spend every dollar and most of that is taxed again by GST.
If we are going to tax the income earned by Labour we must also tax the income earned by Capital. And not just some of it but all of it. None of this bullshit exempting the family home. I have been lucky/privileged enough to buy a house and my rough calculation is that if I sold today I would have made an average profit of $23,000 a year for the 20 odd years I’ve owned it. Anything less is not fair and a tax system should be fair
To hell with every version of a wealth tax yet suggested. We should not tax wealth, which is an unrealized gain, we tax income.
Every dollar of income I earn thru my Labour is taxed and because I don’t earn much I spend every dollar and most of that is taxed again by GST.
If we are going to tax the income earned by Labour we must also tax the income earned by Capital. And not just some of it but all of it. None of this bullshit exempting the family home. I have been lucky/privileged enough to buy a house and my rough calculation is that if I sold today I would have made an average profit of $23,000 a year for the 20 odd years I’ve owned it. Anything less is not fair and a tax system should be fair
A wealth tax is far fairer than a flatter tax on income. Should we be adding an extra tax burden on actual New Zealanders, or the likes of Peter Thiel and Larry Paige- people who are enemies of the entire world not just the New Zealand working class?
How is it fair that those who could afford to buy a house for $8,000 in the late seventies now have a property worth $700,000, those who could afford to buy two properties for $20,000 now have properties worth a total of $3,000,000, and those who could afford to buy four properties for $35,000 now own property worth $4,500,000, while those who worked but couldn’t afford to buy any property in the same era now have an annual pension of less than $30,000?
I found this on YouTube which I found interesting in that all humans seem to fit some of the nuances.
The Psychology of Psychopaths – Predators who Walk Among Us
https://youtu.be/VOyLraNMXM0
I also found this fascinating.
Netflix.
Series 3 Episode 3
MDMA.
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81164526?trackId=254761469
I took MDMA years ago and it was a glorious, liberating and life-changing experience. A most compelling reason to go to Portugal or where ever else good MDMA is not illegal and joy and love is preferred over anger, rage and their cousin, fear. Now? Our drugs of choice is either pharmaceuticals or Meth and either or when combined will cause you to lose your mind and in some instances your life. I have to ask, are we being governed by psychopaths who exploit us for our wealth and our time on Earth?
AO/NZ’s losing its joy. It’s casual peace and harmony. We’ve lost everything except fear and anxiety. We cower beneath the icy gaze of the terminally greedy. We can barely financially survive in a country of immense wealth and vital resources because we’re being exploited by not only our own people but now the people of other countries who own our banks our shops and our politicians.
What’s most frightening is that we’re powerless to rise up and defend each other and our way of life because we now BELIEVE we’re powerless and our fear holds us down while the predators devour our very souls and I feel that, and I’m no God botherer.
Huh.That’s interesting. I just had dirty old [Sir] james wallace come to mind. A classic example of a psychopath if ever there was one. ron brierly, there’s another. Who else I wonder who think they own us?
“fear and loathing” is indeed the model for many at the moment, when all the majority need is some positive leadership and united action. Rogernomics and its later Natzo iterations have to go.
Crikey Dick! Ole Roger has had an epiphany! A revelation! A bit fuckn too late!
Or is he just playing politicks?
https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/123080/act-party-cofounder-roger-douglas-criticizes-party-being-only-wealthy-and-says
Unfortunately Labour can’t really be trusted anymore in the eyes of the voter. It’s not so much this tax …..it’s what this tax will lead to next.
Besides they have actually gathered very high revenue from tax in the last 6 years. But have not spent it that wisely.
The first 10 k should not be taxed on people earning below the average wage.
Labour’s capitulation on wealth tax highlights why they need the Māori Party.
No! It highlights why they need to be humiliated at the polls.
Inexcusable. A rare majority in the house wasted. Twice.
They have betrayed their base.
Traitors.
The difference between Labour and the minor parties on the left is that Labour may actually finish up being in government. Hopefully not, but it’s a possibility. So Hipkins doesn’t want to paint himself into a corner by giving silent consent any of the ridiculous brain farts coming out of the left wing.
He also knows that if he is to win, he needs to keep the centre left voters on-side by at least appearing moderate and sensible.
If labour were to consider a wealth tax three months out from a general election, they wouldn’t get that much support in the general election as it would signal instability. Any restructuring of the tax system is best done in a second term.
” If labour were to consider a wealth tax three months out from a general election, they wouldn’t get that much support in the general election as it would signal instability. Any restructuring of the tax system is best done in a second term. ”
Um are you living in the real world with the rest of us ?
Don’t think so
When would you suggest a tax restructuring be implemented? Now? Any additional taxing of the rich to divide up amongst the majority would drive up inflation.
” Any additional taxing of the rich to divide up amongst the majority would drive up inflation. ”
No ! Inflation is currently high due to some fallout from Covid but the majority of it is caused by greedflation that is when you have an unregulated capitalist economy like ours which allows the current corporate cabals who operate here a free licence to charge what they like and that includes the current political parties like LINO who have overseen changes in the electricity market as one example that has encouraged power companies to increase prices before winter begins.
Tax in this country is long overdue for reform. Its time we had an economy delivering for everyone like it used to instead of being a tax haven for the wealthy and corporates to evade being fairly taxed and contributing to the country they financially rape.
I agree that tax in New Zealand is overdue for reform. However it is not simply Covid-19 that has contributed to our inflationary pressures. Minor issues in our supply and demand chains were present long before Covid-19, in fact they were picked up on by some National Ministers back in 2013 but because of Key’s popularity nobody felt they needed to do anything about the issue.
” Minor issues in our supply and demand chains were present long before Covid-19, in fact they were picked up on by some National Ministers back in 2013 but because of Key’s popularity nobody felt they needed to do anything about the issue.
Danny take a deep breath and start again. Your blinded by your possible bias. The shysters popularity was orchestrated by all of those who would benefit financially including Key and his family trust ..Bronah and the Key kids
The popularity was orchestrated by Key’s friends in the MSM some of who Key had dirty information on like an enemy’s list that President Richard Nixon first was exposed for using in 1970 which prevented them from writing critical truthful facts that would expose or embarrass Key and his enablers…yes this happened here and yes it is fact not something you would ever expect to read in MSM.
labs are shithouses and in election year scared of their own shadow…and they hate the poor as much as the nats do…is the simple answer
Everytime Labour were asked is a wealth tax on the cards? The answer should have been all kinds of taxes are available to a government what we are doing in a cost of living crisis is cutting tax for everyone. We are completely removing income tax on first $20,000 for every New Zealander we are a party that wants everyone to get a fair go.