The snide privilege of those who mock GST off food

1. The G.S.T. never had public support in the first place. Why would average working people ever want tax burdens shifted off the billionaires and dumped onto them?

2. The is the very least they can do. But if they can do less than their very least, they will. This is the state of the modern Labour Party.

   Labour need a swift kick in the pants to get them to move. Vote TPM to give it to them.

3. No matter how many verys you write GST of food is very silly as a way to help the poor . You want to tax the rich yet want to give them a huge tax break by removing the tax from their wagu steak saving them $ 5 per steak at the same time as saving poor people 50 cents on their sausages. . Far better to give a direct boost to those that really need it .

   • Then why are we in the position we need a direct boost…? 9 years of National is why.

     • 6 years of Labour has done nothing for the poor or the rich .

   • Wrong gst off food is not a very silly way to help the poor. Sure gst off food gives a tax break to wealthy and top end middle class. But the simple fact is food is the only discretionary part of a poor persons money. Take gst off a poor persons $100 food bill reduces their bill to $87 and puts $13 directly in their pocket or buys more food or better food for hungry kids. Every economist accountant tax collector or rich prick who wines about inefficiency doesn’t need $13.

     Poor people already paid income tax, paid tax on petrol to get to work to get the income to pay the income tax and paid the council rates component of their rent, they shouldn’t have to pay tax on the food they eat to get the energy to get the money to pay all the other taxes. How will they get ahead when their expenses are disallowed to be claimed against tax like the wealthy can are privileged to do? How will they ever buy a home? Why was the 1/4 acre pavlova paradise stomped!

4. FTT as the only tax. Simple, fair, hardest to evade. It even encourages saving .

5. It is the very least they can do. It is insufficient and will be clawed back, eaten into and eroded by supermarket price increasing on non food items, by further interest rate hikes, food producer cost pass ons and the army of government bean counters needed to administer a complicated tax full of exceptions and legal challenges.
   Its typical Labour, don’t do whats really needed, CGT, wealth tax, transaction tax and redirect that cash back to the low and now middle and working poor oh no, lets give the rich the biggest breaks as usual.
   Fuck labour.

6. if GST is dropped from food, I think that the supermarket price gougers will keep the prices the same, or with a small change and pocket the rest. How can we trust them to do anything else?

7. Don’t worry, Labour will manage to somehow do a lot less.

8. Meh, it’s a nice idea in theory, but you already know so as to remain “budget neutral”, they will hike GST to 17.5% sooner rather than later (possibly at the same time). So while you initially pay less for fresh food, you will pay more for everything else, you know, things like not fresh produce, petrol, electricity, appliances, haircuts, etc. Don’t tell me they would never do this – GST (or VAT as it is known in Europe) is already at 17.5% (or more) in many European countries (but not on food though!). Needless to say they won’t be announcing this minor detail before the election.

9. Does anyone really believe that prices would drop by 15% if GST was removed?

10. The FTT taX HAD THE POPULAR SUPPORT BACK IN 1986/87 .
    But big business and the finance industry opposed it supposedly on the grounds they didnt have the means to operate it . So we got stuck with GST.

11. GST off all foodstuffs would make a huge difference to persons budgeting to feed families; if it does happen to benefit the rich more than the poor, so what ? Australians don’t do this, and nor do the Brits, but once again, in New Zealand, the children of the poor are getting penalised by sociopathic neolib politicians devoid of even the basic commonsense to consider the numerous negative outcomes for hungry and malnourished children.

    A Commissioner for Children, or a half-decent Minister for Children would be addressing these issues but they’ve been silenced too.

12. Inflation is a direct result of the obscene amount of money printing that Ardern and Robertson did in order to, quote, “save us” from something we apparently needed saving from but didn’t ask for. You can’t increase the money supply by such a staggering amount and expect to not have huge inflationary pressure as a consequence.

    • On that basis the cumulative Q.E since 2008 ,explains the global explosion in property …prices.

    • True that.

    • Ahh, another, financial sitting on the sideline firing blanks economist genius!

    • Sure Fidel. It also somehow drove up inflation globally. Amazing accomplishment.

    • So I take it that from your response that you have issues of printing money for the GFC and CHCH earthquakes as well then?

13. I get from this excess profits from banks that are pushing up interest rates! That seems number one, inflation problem!

    As for GST on food instead of fresh food in food parcels, people should be given things to grow that are easy in pots, such as spinach and parsley – and vegetable kits. You also save on all the packaging and landfill.

    Most kids are taught growing food at school now, they just need the first steps done.

    “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.

    Should be mandatory that roadsides have fruit trees, likewise parks and state,communtiy and new build houses and apartments if they have a garden area.

    Food insecurity is only going to get worse!

    • save NZ. Much of what you say is right, but we’ve been experiencing unpredictable home growing conditions latterly. The foliage of my and others’ potatoes in containers was hit by a blight, and I’ve abandoned tomatoes after a couple of difficult years when they’ve rotted inside before ripening, and store bought ones have been the same. Some of the greens are still ok, but spinach is space challenging and beans have also slowed down. Bulk buying eg onions, even in small amounts, no longer works, as they rot or sprout, which they didn’t use to.

      Planting fruit trees in all state and council housing properties, and school grounds is a no-brained, but the often wasteful commercial growers will squeal like slaughterhouse pigs, and their imported seasonal workers depend upon their earnings to subside their economies back home. It should still be done – even of those once delicious Central Otago apricots are now tasteless.

14. I heard on Heather’s show on ZB yesterday the rant went on for hours.

15. Tax free electric cars, first year fees free at university.
    All Labour’s bribes benefit the middle and the wealthy far more than poor. .
    GST off fruit and vegetables is no exception.

16. Trouble is Labour are very simple. They wouldn’t get the joke about the maths teacher who couldn’t work it out with a pencil. Too vulgar for the middle class as it is too basic to consider innate human life. The world seems set not in concrete but in titanium. People talking about the microbiome and good soils and what happens in our bodies and heads from inadequate food are just too backward to be bothered with.

    What does a microbiome do?
    Microbiome refers to the group of up to microbes, or 1,000 bacterial species, that live in your body. This bacteria helps with digestion, destroys harmful bacteria and helps control your immune system. When you eat, only a small portion of nutrients are absorbed through the walls of your stomach.
    What Does Gut Microbiome Have to Do With Your Health?

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