Ani this is great analysis, but you are dingifhing green insanity with your attention. Anyone who has half a brain knows they are lunatics. Don't waste too much time on them I reckon.
HAHA I hear you! I actually found the process of looking through everything they proposed quite interesting. I also think Labour needs to be making clear what policies of the Greens they will entertain
Hi Ani, a great article as always. However, I don’t agree with some of your comments about the inheritance tax.
There is a significant difference between a death tax and an inheritance tax. A death tax taxes the estate, so an estate over the threshold would be taxed the same amount, no matter how many heirs it was divided among. Under an inheritance tax, there would be no tax, even on a huge estate, as long as none of the heirs got an inheritance over the threshold.
Also, tax has to come from somewhere. I don’t think it is necessarily more unfair to tax ‘income’ that you didn’t work for than it is to tax income you worked for.
I agree that there would be issues around people inheriting farms and businesses that they want to keep operating- and having to come up with a large sum to pay the taxman - it would be good to see how other countries dealt with that issue.
Helpful explanation, thank you. There has to be a point at which the state just leaves you alone, and for me that's taking my property. The state should have no right to take things that you've legally obtained, or take it from your family when you die.
I think Labour may be in agreement with at least some of this, and it gives them an excuse to do it. There is a faction of Labour that wants a wealth tax. And TPM were even more extreme on this before the last election. This is a serious threat to NZ - a Labour/Green/TPM win in 2026 is easily possible. And to the Greens’ economic harm will be added the ethnocratic, Maori supremacist ideology of TPM (shared to some extent by Labour and Greens). This is the pathway to a failed state. (I've been accused of catastrophising for saying this, but I stand by it!)
I assume the Greens won't tax Iwi wealth, which will cause further social division.
What will happen if we get Labour/Greens is that people who work for themselves and can relocate will consider doing so. My kids included: they can easily get jobs in Australia. I would probably shut up my business and leave as well.
This will decrease the tax take and implode house prices, which nicely gets rid of the wealth tax.
Given that we are in a global financial sea change, with more tariffs and restrictions, we have to be astute if we want the kiwi way of to continue. The green budget is not that.
The only thing 'green" about the Greens is envy. They are actually fiscally illiterate. Most countries that have imposed a wealth tax have repealed it pretty quickly as they have seen that it simply wrecks the economy. This article helps explain. https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/eu/wealth-tax-impact/ I am sick and tired of bludgers trying to stick their filthy little hands into my pockets. I came here 50 years ago with nothing, I am comfortably off because I worked hard, fed my own children, paid for their childcare, paid for their education, took care of my family and I would rather leave this beautiful country than put up with a Green and racist Te Pati Maori /Labour coalition.
Greens are absolute F.wits none of them could earn enough or be smart enough to get a well paying jobs in the real world so would never pay enough to support their delusional wishlists, they probably all eat their fluoride toothpaste - that would explain their low IQs
Ani, it saddens me that you have to quote the Herald, who shut down comments on their Fb page about this lunatic "alternative" budget, who use their position to effectively censor rather than moderate, who stifle any meaningful discussion, who simply block users who disagree with them, and who are biased and untrustworthy as are the majority of the MSM.
The worrying aspect is that young first/second-time voters will not look deeper than 'free dentists, doctors & early childcare.' Oh, and 'sticking it to those greedy rich oldies' (which includes their own middle-class hard-working parents). That is what they will vote on. However, there is another category of voters who might think again, like some I am aware of, who vote Green, have a Te Tiriti bumper sticker on their late-model cars, then jet off to their annual European holidays with a clear conscience that they have done their bit.
And with "all that extra money" they will pay benes more to sit on their asses and not contribute. Great use of $. Not infrastructure but fkng benefit raises.
Labour is certainly in an unenviable position with their choice of coalition partners, eh? If the coalition of National,
ACT, and NZ First is an uneasy alliance, at least they’ve got enough of what it takes to keep it together. I doubt that Labour, Greens, and TPM could even achieve an ‘uneasy alliance’, let alone keep it together.
It pays to remember that any tax ever levied against the so called wealthy has always eventually come to be everyone's tax - income tax, for example. We should think twice before being okay with a tax simply because we don't happen to come under its blade at the time. A door once opened to State control will never shut. Thus I would rather welcome those lucky and successful enough to afford private jets than punish them, or eventually we'll all have to pay a tax on landing, too. It's better to work for ourselves than demand the fruits of others' work.
As I recall, Thomas Sowell wrote of how a simple soldier's family in early middle ages England, through generations of luck and wisdom, became wealthy by the 19th century, only for the wealth to be largely destroyed by 20th century taxes. Wealth is not an inherent sin and the long game means considering not our own economic status but that our children and everyone else's could do better than us, if we allow. Everyone has a choice.
Labour's big problem is the two parties that it sits with on the left. Most NZers don't want a bar of them. What can they do, either attacking or smiling & waiving means more opposition. Australian Labour does seem to have been a lot smarter in trying to exit mold the green menace of the left.
Thank god the chances of Swarbrick and Co. getting anywhere near the financial levers are near zero, and even less likely by this budget of theirs which could easily pass as parody.
Interestingly one of the reasons for the collapse of early empires is extreme and increasing taxation, not just 'barbarian invasions' and overextended frontiers. When it was no longer profitable to farm or make a living, then people just walked away. These taxes were of course legislated by politicians and emperors to fund their increasingly profligate lifestyles. It's notable that at a time when we're all facing increasing costs our so very esteemed politicians have just got a payrise and not one of them refused it.
“People adapt”. It’s called emigration, money goes where money is loved.
Ani this is great analysis, but you are dingifhing green insanity with your attention. Anyone who has half a brain knows they are lunatics. Don't waste too much time on them I reckon.
HAHA I hear you! I actually found the process of looking through everything they proposed quite interesting. I also think Labour needs to be making clear what policies of the Greens they will entertain
Lots of Morris Dancing and dope smoking as they 'nailed their colours to the mast' with this policy document.
😂😂😂
Hi Ani, a great article as always. However, I don’t agree with some of your comments about the inheritance tax.
There is a significant difference between a death tax and an inheritance tax. A death tax taxes the estate, so an estate over the threshold would be taxed the same amount, no matter how many heirs it was divided among. Under an inheritance tax, there would be no tax, even on a huge estate, as long as none of the heirs got an inheritance over the threshold.
Also, tax has to come from somewhere. I don’t think it is necessarily more unfair to tax ‘income’ that you didn’t work for than it is to tax income you worked for.
I agree that there would be issues around people inheriting farms and businesses that they want to keep operating- and having to come up with a large sum to pay the taxman - it would be good to see how other countries dealt with that issue.
Thank you for sharing that distinction! I didn’t understand that. I will try to find out how Greens are proposing to structure it as it isn’t clear.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/7-countries-where-there-are-no-death-taxes
Helpful explanation, thank you. There has to be a point at which the state just leaves you alone, and for me that's taking my property. The state should have no right to take things that you've legally obtained, or take it from your family when you die.
I think Labour may be in agreement with at least some of this, and it gives them an excuse to do it. There is a faction of Labour that wants a wealth tax. And TPM were even more extreme on this before the last election. This is a serious threat to NZ - a Labour/Green/TPM win in 2026 is easily possible. And to the Greens’ economic harm will be added the ethnocratic, Maori supremacist ideology of TPM (shared to some extent by Labour and Greens). This is the pathway to a failed state. (I've been accused of catastrophising for saying this, but I stand by it!)
I assume the Greens won't tax Iwi wealth, which will cause further social division.
What will happen if we get Labour/Greens is that people who work for themselves and can relocate will consider doing so. My kids included: they can easily get jobs in Australia. I would probably shut up my business and leave as well.
This will decrease the tax take and implode house prices, which nicely gets rid of the wealth tax.
Given that we are in a global financial sea change, with more tariffs and restrictions, we have to be astute if we want the kiwi way of to continue. The green budget is not that.
The only thing 'green" about the Greens is envy. They are actually fiscally illiterate. Most countries that have imposed a wealth tax have repealed it pretty quickly as they have seen that it simply wrecks the economy. This article helps explain. https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/eu/wealth-tax-impact/ I am sick and tired of bludgers trying to stick their filthy little hands into my pockets. I came here 50 years ago with nothing, I am comfortably off because I worked hard, fed my own children, paid for their childcare, paid for their education, took care of my family and I would rather leave this beautiful country than put up with a Green and racist Te Pati Maori /Labour coalition.
Greens are absolute F.wits none of them could earn enough or be smart enough to get a well paying jobs in the real world so would never pay enough to support their delusional wishlists, they probably all eat their fluoride toothpaste - that would explain their low IQs
Ani, it saddens me that you have to quote the Herald, who shut down comments on their Fb page about this lunatic "alternative" budget, who use their position to effectively censor rather than moderate, who stifle any meaningful discussion, who simply block users who disagree with them, and who are biased and untrustworthy as are the majority of the MSM.
If I could afford to be in and out of Parliament myself gathering the info I would but unfortunately I have to rely on the MSM for some things :(
I know, but the state of our MSM frightens the hell out of me! They seem to control the narrative and in my view become more biased by the day.
The worrying aspect is that young first/second-time voters will not look deeper than 'free dentists, doctors & early childcare.' Oh, and 'sticking it to those greedy rich oldies' (which includes their own middle-class hard-working parents). That is what they will vote on. However, there is another category of voters who might think again, like some I am aware of, who vote Green, have a Te Tiriti bumper sticker on their late-model cars, then jet off to their annual European holidays with a clear conscience that they have done their bit.
And with "all that extra money" they will pay benes more to sit on their asses and not contribute. Great use of $. Not infrastructure but fkng benefit raises.
Labour is certainly in an unenviable position with their choice of coalition partners, eh? If the coalition of National,
ACT, and NZ First is an uneasy alliance, at least they’ve got enough of what it takes to keep it together. I doubt that Labour, Greens, and TPM could even achieve an ‘uneasy alliance’, let alone keep it together.
It pays to remember that any tax ever levied against the so called wealthy has always eventually come to be everyone's tax - income tax, for example. We should think twice before being okay with a tax simply because we don't happen to come under its blade at the time. A door once opened to State control will never shut. Thus I would rather welcome those lucky and successful enough to afford private jets than punish them, or eventually we'll all have to pay a tax on landing, too. It's better to work for ourselves than demand the fruits of others' work.
As I recall, Thomas Sowell wrote of how a simple soldier's family in early middle ages England, through generations of luck and wisdom, became wealthy by the 19th century, only for the wealth to be largely destroyed by 20th century taxes. Wealth is not an inherent sin and the long game means considering not our own economic status but that our children and everyone else's could do better than us, if we allow. Everyone has a choice.
Labour's big problem is the two parties that it sits with on the left. Most NZers don't want a bar of them. What can they do, either attacking or smiling & waiving means more opposition. Australian Labour does seem to have been a lot smarter in trying to exit mold the green menace of the left.
Thank god the chances of Swarbrick and Co. getting anywhere near the financial levers are near zero, and even less likely by this budget of theirs which could easily pass as parody.
Spot on Ani. Agree with your points.
Interestingly one of the reasons for the collapse of early empires is extreme and increasing taxation, not just 'barbarian invasions' and overextended frontiers. When it was no longer profitable to farm or make a living, then people just walked away. These taxes were of course legislated by politicians and emperors to fund their increasingly profligate lifestyles. It's notable that at a time when we're all facing increasing costs our so very esteemed politicians have just got a payrise and not one of them refused it.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/515664/pay-bump-for-politicians-what-you-need-to-know