Big Vision 2020: We need public owned Forests, free public transport, time for a Worker’s Levy, legalised cannabis, State House rent to own, solar panels on all roofs & tax-free first $20 000
The ‘Kiwi way of life’ is a low imagination horizon anti intellectualism based on exploitation of confiscated indigenous resources where ignorance & malice is celebrated by the rural volk while middle class attention is engulfed between school rankings & property speculation.
A country with 295 000 kids in poverty, 40 000 homeless, 668 suicides per year making it one of the highest rates in the world and an appalling domestic violence rate; a country with generations locked out of home ownership and job security by deunionised wage levels that lock us into insecurity, desperation and subservience; a country undermined by exploited migrant labour and speculation where primary industries get to pollute and rape the environment without remorse or punishment ; a country that could only apologise for the atrocity at Parihaka 140 years after it happened; a country with social services who chase and hound beneficiaries to death and persecute them; a country whose bloated private prison complex locks up as many people as America and we release men back into the community more damaged than when they went in; a country whose politics are owned by vested big business interests and petty corruptions; this is a country where The Project and Seven Sharp are considered current affairs with all the intellectual curiosity of the ZM and Edge Breakfast shows.
This is a nation who looked at John Key’s dirty politics, his mass surveillance lies, his office colluding with the Secret Intelligence Service to falsely smear the Leader of the Opposition months before the 2011 election and said, ‘yeah, I’ll re-elect him’.
We are a juvenile country with all the cultural maturity of a can of day old coke.
Whatever noble lineage that existed within our egalitarian roots has long been killed off by the 30 year neoliberal experiment and you can see that by the passionate intensity those who have profited by exploiting capital gains scream their hatred at the mere mention they might have to pay tax on a gain they haven’t even realised yet.
So how on earth do you go into the 2020 election with a progressive political spectrum that starts by disappointing everyone with a feeble definition of transformation and ends in alienating middle class identity politics?
Electorally, Labour, NZ First and the Greens couldn’t get laid wearing banana costumes at a monkey brothel.
National’s strategy is not to win over Labour or Greens voters, it is to throw raw meat policy via targeted social media adverts to ensure their angry and hateful voters turn up while relying on the deep disappointment in Jacinda to do anything meaningful to keep progressive voters from bothering to vote.
So. Labour, NZ First & the Greens desperately need to hold up a vision that they can actually implement which synchs in with the major issues progressives care about. Seeing as not one of these parties is actually going to directly do anything on climate change, inequality, poverty or the housing crisis because it spooks the angry vested interests, pick policy that directly responds to those issues without using the same language so those angry vested interests have to work to try and knock them down before the election.
- Public Owned Forest: Synchs in with economic sovereignty, environmentalism & economic growth. We desperately need to move intensive dairy farming to forests but we also need the State to own and run the biggest forest. We can’t keep selling our forests off to foreign interests that only want to plant Pine, we need a State Forest the way we did before the neoliberalism that sold it off and lowered work and safety standards to the worst in NZ. Planting a billion trees in foreign owned forests is insane, rebuild our own State Forest sector, lift work and safety standards, lift wages and stop sending unfinished product offshore. We can’t leave something that is so crucial to climate change prevention to the whims of the market, it requires the muscle of the State.
- Free public transport: Synchs in with environmentalism, reducing poverty & inequality. Demanding all cities have free public transport would help the poorest amongst us, demand more growth for public transport and take some of the stress out of our groaning roading system that can’t cope as it is. Major way to directly combat climate change.
- Worker’s Levy: Synch in with empowering workers and lifting wages. The CTU are throwing tantrum over the Government not adopting Fair Pay Agreements. The Government won’t do it before the election because they are gutless and terrified of what the Employers Association will do, so reframe it as a ‘Worker’s Levy’. The vast majority of NZers would have no problem with mandatory Union enrolment, so every worker entering a new job should automatically be enrolled with the Union representing their sector. This open membership would cost a levy equivalent to two weeks union membership and workers could either chose to remain as members or if they don’t want to be a member for whatever reason, they can contact the Union and remove their membership. The levy would be automatically deducted from the workers first pay. Enroll worker into Unions first so that you actually have an army to push back when the Employers Association goes feral.
- Legalised cannabis market: Synch in with economic growth & environmentalism The taxation, the new industry, the job creation, the tourism boom – all of these things can occur when a regulated market is built. Be the Government that wants strong economic growth into industry that is truly sustainable.
- State House rent to own: Synchs in with housing crisis and reducing poverty and inequality You can’t use free market tools to fix a problem caused by the free market. People don’t see houses as places to live in, they see them as investments. The arsehole landlords don’t need to ever upgrade their product because demand is so high, and the profits from investment so large they can just keep ghost houses. The State needs to embark upon a huge State House rent to buy program where they build the houses and only allow first time home buyer state tenants to get a rent to own mortgage through KiwiBank. By making the most vulnerable well housed and an a path to home ownership, bad bugger landlords who no longer have the market desperation that allows them to leave their rentals like slums, will be forced to upgrade the housing stock.
- Solar panels on all roofs: Synchs in with climate change Being carbon neutral by 2050 and letting the farmers off the hook for another 6 years is a joke response to climate change. Allowing tax breaks for people to buy solar panels for their own homes with an aim to have a solar panel on every single roof by 2030 is a far more bold vision.
- Tax-free first $20 000: Synchs in with inequality, poverty, helping beneficiaries and robs National of its main policy plank Labour can never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever lift welfare rates because National get too much political power from bashing the dirty filthy bennie. So, rob one of National’s main policy planks and give everyone a tax cut on their first $20 000. That would help the poorest and be a defacto lift in benefits.
Grant would have to open the purse and borrow for some of this investment, but give people a vision with policy ideas that demand attention and front foot that with the best orators and speakers each Party has, and this Government has a chance of winning the next election.
We can’t allow Jacinda to be a one term Government, I acknowledge that she has done sweet bugger all in genuinely changing the lives of New Zealanders but she deserves a second term to do that in.
We must defend the Queen!
Lesson number one. Nothing is free.
Muldoon, with his version of a Soviet economy, was delivered the inevitable outcome when (ironically), David Lange informed Sir Piggy and the nation live on TV 1984, that the country was broke!
Piggy was paying farmers more to produce lamb than the monopoly export board to sell same for. Piggy had two people driving every NZ Road Services (why did the government have to own – which means buy and service) bus. Post & Telegraph would rock up to install a fone with 4 blokes in the van: 1 to drive, 1 to install and two to read the latest rugby news. Everyone had a job. This false economy masked reality.
And so it went on. Much of what we had was government subsided – which is what (it seems to me) that you support in your post.
There is the case that the wealthy should be taxed more, to avoid the guillotine of bankruptcy which hovered as a result of Muldoon’s closet socialist sentiments being exposed.
Do the sums. If you taxed all those earning above $150k pa- 85 cents in the dollar, the increase in the treasury bank account would be now where near what the increase in the treasury vaults would be if the $40 – $80K pa earners were taxed another 2%.
And of course, the companies – these evil monsters which employ they who need and want a job, and also in many cases the unemployable, could be taxed 50% – not 33 %.
Problem is, this would hurt the companies employing half a dozen – small companies started my courageous young people who risk a mortgage over their home and rely on those whom they employ, not to crash the plumber’s van and to attend the till without thieving. These are the champions of our economy and to over tax them? – Let’s not talk about being fair – its subjective.
Increase company tax and the big companies simply bugger off. Re-locate in South East Asia where wages are lower and tax – near 20% and in some place, less. Or BVI.
As you are well aware, Bomber: my social agenda – (a) putting police before proper law courts and not IPCA for doing bad things (b) legalising dope (c) pro abortion and (c) for gay rights – all of which I either voted for or argue for when I was an MP; is quite different to my leanings when it comes to – economics
The All Blacks may be chanting: “Bring back Buck”. My chorus is, “Bring back Roger.”
The answer to increase more tax money in the government coffers is: Reduce company tax to 15%.
Laffer curve studies demonstrate gains to treasury vaults when corporate tax is reduced.
Richard Prebble confirmed to me that the immediate impact of lower taxation introduced by the Lange government in the late 80ies, was an increase in IRD revenue. (Thus I provide theory and empirical evidence.(
When OUR government has more money in the bank; only then can OUR government be as charitable as you seek.
oops
Ross
Nonsence Ross.
good to see you back with your true colours though .
retired bloke
cheers
ross
Fiscal expansion is staring this governments infrastructure deficit in the face.
It’s hilarious that you support your theory with a quote from Prebble. The trucking business owner who destroyed all government owned competition to his business.
The fact is the Martyn’s proposals have been shown to be viable by the Savage government while yours has proven to produce poverty, misery, inequality and immense wealth for a few by you’re beloved Rogernomics.
And this “Post & Telegraph would rock up to install a fone with 4 blokes in the van: 1 to drive, 1 to install and two to read the latest rugby news.” is just not true. P & T was very profitable and subsidised NZ Post. You destroy all credibility you may have with such ridiculous rhetoric.
Nothing is free – but the equation is wrong.
All primary wealth is generated through exploitation of natural resources (land, water, air, forests, soils, flora, fauna, fellow human beings, etc.).
Financial, political and industrial production systems (“manifestation of power”) are providing the framework of thought and action for investment and work (“cost-benefit comparison”) in this exploitation process, determining the time-bound value of its use.
The process is not static, and functioning in present-day economics because the appropriation of natural resources is free or low-cost (below the exchange value), and warranted by acquired “ownership” of the specific natural recourse.
Usually, gains made during the exploitation process are privatized by the systems of power; loss and damage are re-distributed as wasted natural resources.
In principle, the process of capital accumulation is an open arrangement of causes and effects, and the equation changes quickly, if selected parameters are modified or replaced, the assumptions re-established, or the manifestation of power takes over.
This is where political economy comes into place.
Counting beans does not necessarily make an economist.
……here’s Kiwi film director Justin Pemberton talking about his latest documentary Capital In The 21st Century with Marty Duda for 13th Floor Arts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkRwR5SC7OM
I fail to understand why you & your mates still believe that voting for the conventional globalisation parties will bring about any sort of meaningful change.
Liberalism in all its forms has run its course, & the serious challenges of our times will not be solved by our ineffectual party political dictatorship & the not fit for purpose parliamentary democracy that perpetuates it.
As I see it, putting our ideas, energy & talents into growing an anti-globalisation establishment movement, which aims to bring about a broad based national salvation government, makes much more sense.
An Our Party for Our People & Our Place is a common sense approach & course of action that’s sorely required right now.
I am with you 100% Martyn.
We need to Nationalise our resources as ‘China does’ as we cant go on selling our economic base from where we made our money from under us.
Egalitarian society was my upbringing during the 1950’s and it was a time when everyone had enough but just very few millionaires.
So you want to legalise marajuana and then encourage tourists to come here. This means that not only will we have a stoned work force but we will have stoned drivers who are used to driving on the other side of the road on our roads . ACC will need a big boost as will hospital A&E. Let’s hope you fail in your push to make us all pot heads.
That’s an interesting red hearing. I mean who on earth wants impaired drivers around the place.
The government has tens of billions in unfounded infrastructure investment so the economy is stalled until some money is fund for productivity.
The idea that this is just about sin is just a straw man.
Gee whizz
Didn’t realise my view on financing welfare would have caused so much angst!
Two points arising, if I may:
The reason I advocate lowering company tax is to increase the revenue stream for IRD so OUR guvmint doesn’t go broke providing help to they who need help. Because OUR guvmint sure as hell did, under Sir Robert Muldoon aka Mr Subsidise.
AND
The reason I advocate legalising dope is: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733409
Anyway. No offence intended. No offence taken. Simply a mater of debate.
So I’d like to respond.
For personal income I’d look at adding brackets in order to get more granularity in the percentages and possibly increase the top end, but the biggest reform is to cut the number of exemptions. In particular with an eye towards taxing externalities or a tax on pollution basically. While keeping those that help the poor and lower middle class. In general a good starting point would be to start by trying to match the current effective rates, but achieve them more directly rather than by letting people who can afford it throw an army of accountants to cut their tax burden, then do some targeted relief for those who need it on the understanding that putting a tax burden on the poor is generally counterproductive economic and comes with far greater personal cost.
I’d look at cutting the corporate tax so long as I can make it up elsewhere (lower corporate tax, higher top end personal tax for example).
And I’d start taxing capital gains tax like any other income (throw a few exemptions to encourage retirement savings). And a Negative Income Tax/Earned Income Tax Credit scheme would be an excellent move to replace other social welfare programs, but that is far broader than the tax reform.
As far as legalising marijuana I mean the gangs are going to get out hustled by tech entrepreneurs. Gangs are the old business model. Once the business model changes the money will dry up and the gangs will be left with decaying club rooms.