By Alex Tarrant
“All in good time,” is the message from Jacinda Ardern on whether the Labour Party will contest the general election with a different tax policy to Andrew Little’s low-key stance.
Ardern wasn’t ruling anything out, but nor was she ruling anything in on that specific issue as she and deputy leader Kelvin Davis unveiled Labour’s new campaign slogan, “Let’s do this,” in Parliament on Friday.
Housing, health, education, key infrastructure, the environment and policies with a Maori focus will be central tenets of the campaign, she said. A ‘key infrastructure’ announcement is set for Sunday – set to include a promise of light rail to Auckland Airport - followed by an environment announcement Wednesday.
Another move not to be underestimated is that Ardern has also brought in Helen Clark’s former chief press secretary, Mike Munro, as a strategic advisor. Munro importantly will demand respect from the caucus and should in effect act as a de-facto head press officer and chief of staff, all in one.
Such a move was one of the recommendations Interest.co.nz wrote about on Monday regarding the need for caucus respect for the Labour Party leadership under whoever led the party. Another recommendation was for a more progressive tax policy – that looks like it is on the cards.
Turei won't take Cabinet post
Labour’s announcement was set back an hour by potential coalition partner the Green Party, with the announcement by co-leader Metiria Turei that she would not seek a Cabinet position if the Greens were in government.
This follows from Turei earlier saying she had lied about the number of flatmates she had while receiving the domestic purposes benefit, and a report last night that she had registered to vote in an electorate she did not live in, in 1993 when she was 23 years old. You can watch that full press conference below. Turei said she would remain in Parliament and continue her work focussing on the underprivileged as co-leader of the Greens.
Ardern herself said afterwards that she would not have accepted Turei in a Labour-led Cabinet. Her office had notified this to the Greens earlier in the morning, Ardern said. Turei had made the right choice, she added. But Ardern did add that it was important for the issues Turei had raised to be discussed. Labour would be sticking within its Budget Responsibility Rules, Ardern said. This stipulates that government spending as a proportion of GDP needs to remain below 30% each year, and that net government debt will be returned to net 20% of GDP within five years of Labour taking office.
Tax policy "all in good time"
Back to tax. After setting out several campaign priorities, Ardern was inevitably asked about her position on changing Labour’s tax policy. Interest.co.nz wrote on Wednesday that a more progressive tax system is on the election campaign agenda.
However, it was wait-and-see mode, with Ardern playing questions from all corners of the room with a straight bat. Would she rule out raising the top tax rate?
“I’ve given an overview of the policy areas that we will be adding emphasis. There might be other areas that we touch on through the course of the campaign,” she said. “But I’ve already given an indication that housing, education and the environmental space, and of course on Maori issues, that’s where our emphasis will be.”
Could she give any indication on the direction of thinking on tax; should wealthier people on higher incomes pay more tax?
“People will be left in no doubt of our direction during this campaign. I don’t think anyone expects that after 72 hours I’ll come out with every single policy we’ll announce. But we will make sure that New Zealanders have good time to come to terms with the things that we’re proposing and the ideas that we’re putting out.”
Will Labour be changing the tax mix? “All in good time.” So, she won’t rule it out? “All in good time,” again. “I’ve demonstrated the areas where we will have emphasis. We will roll out our policies as we are ready,” Ardern said.
A change of tack: Would Labour stick with its fiscal plan? This was connected to the Budget Responsibility Rules but still were separate documents.
“We absolutely maintain that economic credibility is key in this election campaign. Whether we like it or not, people have a view on Labour and economic credibility. I would of course counter that we have a strong economic record,” Ardern said.
“But that is why we produced the Budget Responsibility Rules and that is why we’ll stick to them,” she added. “You…know (Labour finance spokesman) Grant Robertson and you know what parameters that he will hold me to. He’s already released the fiscal plan.”
“We have stuck to our parameters so far in this campaign and we’ll continue to do so. That includes a combination both of the fiscal plan and the Budget Responsibility Rules, but everything we announce we’ll make sure is fully costed and sticks within the parameters that we’ve set ourselves.”
Also, don’t forget Treasury’s pre-election fiscal update is due on 23 August, with the latest showing potential for an extra $1.5 billion in pocket money.
“So, there’s a number of different dynamics that will enter into this campaign.”
134 Comments
Boatman,
I thought that I had plumbed the depth of your ignorance previously,but not so. Right now,the Turei saga is doing them no good and she should have resigned,but to call them 'rabid communists' is says a lot more about your ignorance than it does about them. I'll bet you have never met a true communist.
I am a capitalist; most of my retirement income comes from dividends and rent and I was self-employed for over 30 years in the financial services business,but i am also an environmentalist and that is why,despite not agreeing with all their policies,I will be voting for them in Sept.
And where is NZ First likely to fit into all of this.
My guess is that the combination of MT's lies and the new JA image for Labour could lead to a big swing from the Greens to Labour with NZ first jumping to the critical third place. Winnie the Queenmaker? It's all getting very interesting!
The strife is Turei's and Labour HAS ruled out her holding a cabinet position, I think they are smart enough to know that it must remain that way. WTF else can they do about it.
BTW I think she should have bowed out, still do, she is now a liability, but I suspect when she first went for this tactic she had Shaw's backing and probably other party members' so if they insist she go now, they are just chucking her under a bus. I guess they owe her that much. Rock, hard place
She may still have to resign, depending on the outcome of any inquiry.
When JA was interviewed she said that Turei would not hold a cabinet position for now but that holding a cabinet position in the future was a hypothetical question and would not give a definitive answer. I suppose what they could of done was make the memorandum of understanding null and void based on the fact they did not expect to have an agreement with a potential criminal (or at least put it on hold pending the result of an inquiry). It just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I truly feel for all the beneficiaries who attempt and do manage to live within the law.
Turei even boasted that she attained her position because she broke the law, what does that say, break the law and you can achieve great heights.
I think she should go, but again, the strife is the Green's. There has been nothing official done, as yet. I guess the outcome of that will determine where to from here. Kangaroo court is not where it should be decided.
And on breaking the to achieve great heights, she's not the first, won't be the last and her great heights are nothing compared to many others.
I have been a Green voter for a while, Turei lost them my vote, not because of what she did in the past so much, but because of the way it is being used politically.
Ardern looks to have steel in her spine
Ha! I've been Green every election and was definitely going to vote Green this election, I'm wavering a bit now truth be told. Policies v Personalities, I need to work that out in my head before Election Day, hopefully something will happen to make my decision easier.
weak-kneed lilly-livered chickenshits
the big-man up there somewhere is happy to foment all this angst among the plebs running around foaming at the mouth over Turei - gives the riff-raff something to do
Meanwhile
Silence on the bigger issues of money-laundering and multi-national tax-avoidance. Why don't they go after them like a rat-up-a-drainpipe. It's easier to go after the little one coz they don't fight back whereas the big ones use the proceeds of their extraction to fight back and mr big doesn't want the fight
The big-man could go after the bigger rats and dish out $1000's to each of the needy and still have some left over
Forget Turei
A whiff of hypocrisy floats through this Nat argument. Still waiting on Bill English to cough up and reimburse the taxpayers for the Karori accommodation supplement he claimed to the tune of $900 a week several years ago, for living in his own house.
Brown and female = Criminal and shameful abuser of the system, should have just sucked it up and stayed grateful for the charity.
White and wealthy = Clever use of what the system allows, making the best of God's bountiful opportunities.
The Greens are OK as long as they only have the mandate to stick to what they're good at - championing environmental issues. Anything further than that is a worry.
But having the Greens in the mix is a good thing IMO. A coalition between either Labour OR National and TOP (Economic policy and Social Welfare), Greens (Environment) as coalition partners would be great. There's some good policy thinking with TOP http://www.top.org.nz/top_vs_the_greens
Everything the Greens have said? Including wanting to ban water?
Though to be fair I could certainly see Trump also wanting to ban dihydrogen monoxide.
Many young people have ditched facebook, and infact more older people seem to use it these days. I am in their demo, being in my 30's, but have ditched it partly due to it being creepy in the way it tracks you. Also potentially a liability if a employer view content on it, or wants access to it, which some do.
Beware Facebook tracking
A software developer. Only visit known news sites. Periodically check the cookies that have been deposited on my machine. Use PC's. Dont use smartphones. Checked the cookie list last week. There were 5300 cookies in hiding. Never ever visit Facebook. Dont have a Facebook account. Yet there were 500 Facebook tracking cookies on my PC. Cleared them all down. Next day there was a new deposit of 200 Facebook cookies appeared out of nowhere. No idea where they are coming from. Appears some sites have embedded FB insertion capability or have been hijacked
They track via Atlas (an ad:tech company they bought a few years back), if you visit news sites, invariably they will have log-in using Facebook features. Every site you visit with that on it, adds another cookie and their ad-server (Atlas) will pick up where you go, what you've been up to so they can advertise at you either on FB or a broader network, Atlas also allows them to serve ads outside of FB as well.
Did you read the same article as me? It looked to me like she was saying 'give me a week or two to get to grips with things and then I'll tell you my tax policy'
"People will be left in no doubt of our direction during this campaign. I don’t think anyone expects that after 72 hours I’ll come out with every single policy we’ll announce. But we will make sure that New Zealanders have good time to come to terms with the things that we’re proposing and the ideas that we’re putting out"
If you still don't know closer to polling day then feel free to complain.
The votes Labour is after won't be much affected by any potential increase in taxation other then that it pays them for the extra spend they promise on social issues. Strategically they are doing well to concentrate on what they feel is important to their voters and to steal some thunder from the Greens. Her face gives the impression that the stress is already telling. Will be interesting to see how she will cope during the campaign and beyond.
Unless she does exceptionally well at polling day Labour will throw her under the bus after the election.
What a disgrace. How on Earth can the Labour leader say that they are still close to the Greens when their leader is a frauster. Says a lot about integrity. If Jacinda was anywhere near a Lange or a Clark she would have made the call like they would have to end the agreement with the Greens. It shows she's not ready to lead the country whatsoever. What a shambles the election is over. Same Labour same policies. No boldness unlike the past Labour governments.
Incomparable...plus Todd resigned as should be expected. Turia carries on and is denied a postion she never had anyway. Anyone in NZ that commits fraud is immediately dismissed in a workplace.
Different rules for the left. They think fraud is ok. How can anyone vote and accept those standards in the country.
A disgrace and poor leadership from Adern. She should have insisted that Turia resign.
Incomparable? Both appear to have committed crimes which cost the taxpayer money. One major difference I can see is that other members of the National party knew about Barclay's incident a long time ago and chose to do nothing more than spend taxpayers money to make it go away.
He is not resigning because we are only a few weeks out from an Election. I very much doubt if the Clutha region could be bothered having to vote twice in the space of a few weeks because of a bi-election which just about anyone would agree with. Otherwise he would have resigned. Turia is a disgrace and Labour are tarred with the same brush.
Todd is under investigation and has not been charged yet of any wrong doing ...and did not confess to a crime like MT did in public and caught lying as well ... Plus an employment relation matter is much different from public money fraud and breaking electoral rules and laws ... there is not parallel between the two
Isn't the implication that he took tax payer money to pay for an employment relations matter? Money which is not supposed to be used in that way, how much money was it in the end?
Irrespective of that, the commentator above said he resigned as was expected, he didn't. I was wondering if he was expected to resign or it was completely understandable that he hasn't, they seem completely incompatible positions to me - requiring an amazing set of ethical gymnastics.
Todd resigned ???? WTF
As far as I can see he is still giving that shite eating grin off in the back benches when really if our police had any spine he should be in jail for two years. He has admitted it, the prime minister has confirmed it -- what else do they need. I think they got some kindly career advice from dear ol uncle bill - chief billshitter of the National party.
Tell us about your knew tax ideas Jacinda and who will pay for it please !
Greens seem to believe that welfare is a right people can have for a life time !
Welfare was and is an amazing system we have but it's got watered down to a right rather than a privlege to help, you know a hand up not a permanent handout, it has to have limits. SICK SICK SICK OF THIS STUFF if these two parties really want to help then produce policies that improve these peoples potential to become part of society rather than a resentment. Welfare great but only for a clearly stated length of time only when they are helping themselves in NEW LABOUR policies that put them into useful traing or social assistance rather than be on a paid government holiday. Invest in their future help them don't make generations of dependants. Most working people face potential drug and alchol testing shouldn't Welfare be the same lets get honest, real and helpful for everyone.
If only they'd drug test welfare recipients eh? Oh that's right they did - http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/325553/tens-of-thousands-drug-t…
Jacinda appears to have potential and next time around could be the real deal but at the moment she comes across as a bubbly uni student with uni mentalily hey 'LETS DO IT ' lets do what ??? look cool and grown up and maybe we could run the country or something cool like that ! YEAH RIGHT !
The Herald, the Nats, and Mike Hosking will all be apoplectic with rage. Not only have the greens removed their opponents best "attack vector" Turei" but Labour has maintained a strong relationship with the Greens. They're sidestepping the fake news and going social. How dare they! The people who own the media should be the gatekeepers of thinkable thought! Worst of all Ardern appears to be brilliant at deflecting and sidestepping questions designed to trap her and her party. You go girl!
I'm happy to pay more taxes if it means we get our fellow citizens out of poverty. And you know what, more people out of poverty ends up costing us as a society less. Less crime = less government expenses, more people employed = great tax tax collected, more money spent in nz = greater tax collected.
So yes we will have to pay more tax today, but it paves the way to pay less in the future, while living in a better society.
"if it means we get our fellow citizens out of poverty"
Yeah, but it doesn't. Government expenditure is extremely inefficient and ineffective at getting people out of poverty. If you want your money to go towards helping poor people, give it to the Salvation Army or such-like.
Well, unemployment is at 4.8%, which is incredible compared with the rest of the world. It is hard to say that the economy is poor when it is clearly not. House prices are up, but that is a global phenomenon and if tax was the answer then how come prices are crazy in lots of western countries who have all sorts of taxes? Don't forget that we are all immigrants.
How can we all as voters in this election take Labour with any seriousness. They can't even organise their own party let alone the country. 5 leaders in 9 years, it's humiliating. It would be an absolute shambles if they had power, the country won't want that. It's over, another 3 years of National. My goodness, how can their supporters want anything to do with the Greens, that was the final nail in the coffin. Once again another 3 years with backward socialist ideas and nothing invigorating like they used to do. Hopeless.
Income tax increases may give property prices a boost as high income earners seek to offset the tax increase by jumping into property investments.
A corresponding increase to welfare payments will enable landlords to increase rents as well.
End result will be a repeat of 2002 to 2007 when investors and home owners enjoyed significant capital gains.
Yes there is "property king" my family has bought and sold rentals for significant capital gains and never paid a cent of tax on any of it. Until the bright line test it's never been enforced with the IRD happy to look the other way when "intention" wasn't obvious
Well unless they bought lots then sold them a few years later/periodically they are thieves and they owe NZ money. Even before the bright line test if you are in the business of buying and selling property you MUST register for GST and pay tax. I don't know anyone who trades property over the past decade that hasn't always paid tax, it is unheard of not to. It would be obvious to pick up by the IRD, it has been like that for years and years.
However I know truck loads of people who buy and sell shares regularly that have never a paid capital gains tax and still don't.
There are no tax advantages whatsoever and there never have been Vs any other business entity. I don't think property people care that much about tax when they buy, if they a pay capital pay tax at the end, then they have made money.
A vote for labour is a vote for the greens , nothing will happen the Greens will block everything and then thiers Winston what a mess .Probably Arden might get in as it was just like the worm many years ago re Mr DUNNE
People have got to study the policies , not just personalities
its going to be a circus
A vote for National is a vote for:
Mass immigration
Traffic Jams
Hospital Ques
Increase in class numbers
School closures
Homelessness
High Property Prices
Money Laundering
Immigration scams
No training for young NZers
Education rorts
$15 beers, $7 lettuce
Low wage economy..........
ALL That sounds great, bring National back in then !... Not sure what a vote for Labour or Greens is ? ....
I can guess though that it will be:
One Fraudster Holds the entire Moral principles to ransom ( if she doesn't disappear)
Almost same immigration numbers - out of need!
exactly the same traffic Jams if not more
more Hospital Queues ( changes don't happen overnight!!)
Higher property prices -- for sure
increase in homelessness ..even when they are tucked away in a Marie or community social houses
Same training for the "Willing to work" Young people - cannot grab an idiot by the horns nowadays and force him to get up skilled , too much rights, less responsibilities
More beneficiaries, having more children, to join the poverty queue
More losers waiting to land that $70K job to be bothered to get out of bed or leave Netflix ...or the joint!
Same $1.00 Lettuce (in Summer) and $4 in winter
More fully-capable-working-youngsters on sickness benefit roaming the streets demanding a WINZ pay rise every year - or else!...
More losers stealing from benefits or WINZ because apparently that is a Right and Cool, MT said it was ok...and got away with it and voted in!!
More of state dependency culture passed on to the next generation including free housing to be trashed and rebuilt in 3-5 years by TAXpayer's money.
Higher taxes --> more brain drain --> less wage inflation --> more disgruntled people !--> slimmer margins --> pissed off customers and less competition -->
More SME closing down --> more unemployment --> more beneficiaries --> more taxes!!
Higher taxes --> more expensive House prices (new and old) --> higher building costs ----> less housing supply --> back to Square 1 ( 2000 , 2007 ) --> Less Saving --> more FHB agginie
Higher taxes --> Higher inflation --> Higher Interest rates --> higher cost of goods and services --> then Coffee = $ 7, and Beer = $12
No change in house buying affordability - Zilch! .. could even get worse
Rents will go up with higher taxes --> more AS --> higher rents --> more regulation !!
No change in Council fees or rates ( same rate of increase)
Taxes to be collected and used to bribe lower income people to secure the next term election -- > until the rot and empty promises surface and stink. Deja Vue! or people will get sick of the Circus in the first term .. whichever comes first!
There will be NO changes in Inequality -- because that is a relative term and a moving average which shows after many years of correct policy application.
Will take the country (us taxpayers) Tons of more money to clean the mess they have caused after they were gone - very similar to a bad and messy tenant !
Blame all their failure on the previous Nat Gov ...
at least the Nats have no one to blame but themselves now !
Green's Sludge Hammer policies felt in industry, agri business, and general compliance costs ---> Stupid Carbon taxes --> more inflation --> pissed off people
So: Let's do this !! --
So you've just run up a list of negative results of 9 years of National then make up a whole lot of stuff so you can justify voting them back in. Made my day, that did.
You even had the temerity to say they will blame the previous National government for any failure, clearly you do not watch question time at all.
One of you lot, who are desperately using Turei and the Green's strife to try to smear Jacinda Ardern, asked me a week or so back what was wrong with Martin Snkreli
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/95480263/former-drug-company-exe…
What honeymoon period? It is a second coming more like going by the desperate MSM. " In just a week, the political landscape has become unrecognisable. Hurricane Jacinda has landed and hasn't yet put a foot wrong.
Everyone is talking about the Jacinda effect. And nobody is talking about National."
Economists really have no idea how inflation works...Japan’s persistently low inflation comes even though essentially everyone in Japan who wants a job has one. Basic econ theory says that as the labor market gets tighter, competition should push up wages, which will then boost consumer prices via increased demand and higher costs. In Japan, nothing of the sort has happened -- wages and prices show little sign of rising despite the disappearance of unemployment.
(H/T Stephen Hulme. From his link above)
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