Hard News: Things To Do
194 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 Newer→ Last
-
Although cutting food GST might seem simple, the "bang for bucks" is staggeringly poor, if the goal is eliminating food-related poverty. A quick play with numbers from the 2007 Household Economic Survey would suggest that removing GST from food would cost 1.4bn (that's omitting non-household food purchases too). Of that cost, 4.4% would go to decile 1, 16.2% to deciles 1-3, and just 33% to deciles 1-5.
A number of people have made comments about tax incidence. It is true that food producers/distributors would capture some of the tax cut and not pass it on (it's always hard to estimate how much). However this is a fact of life common to all taxes and subsidies - there's no escaping it.
Quick response to Terence W (from back on page 4)
1) The rich can choose to save but this doesn't change the fact that over their life-time they pay the same rate of consumption tax.
2) Point taken that we could make income tax more progressive in a revenue neutral fashion (you seem to be the only one suggesting this as an option though). The problem with this is ever-increasing marginal tax rates, which tend to be where the dead-weight losses come from.
3) Tax-free thresholds and minimum wages both still have targeting problems because a lot of households in poverty aren't working at all. Also a lot of minimum wage-earners are non-primary income earners so not necessarily in low-income households. -
A quick play with numbers from the 2007 Household Economic Survey would suggest that removing GST from food would cost 1.4bn (that's omitting non-household food purchases too).
So, wouldn't it be better to spend that 1.4 billion on people in need, by e.g. raising benefits and exapanding WFF, or introducing a univerasl child benefit, rather than adopting a broad and poorly targeted policy?
-
Cutting GST is a very efficient way of helping poorer folk. For one thing, you don't need arbitary measures of "poorness", you don't need gangs of Government employees to determine whether someone is poor enough to qualify and as a "poor" person you don't need to waste hours filling in forms attending interviews or getting your local charity to advocate on your behalf - just to prove to these employees that you are indeed poor enough.
We already have all those 'gangs of Government employees to determine whether someone is poor enough to qualify', and we still would whether GST was altered or not. So no saving there. Same goes for the time wasted by the "poor" doing all the admin.
You add a compliance cost to all retailers. This is huge.
The most you can help anyone with your method is with 12.5% of their food bill.
-
Wel. Nz now has its own site for grumpies The Vent Go on, have a whinge, I know you want to. ;-)
-
Thanks Shep, good to know that New Zealand defence infrastructure is being tested by the best.
-
Waihope is about as Kiwi as Holden, Speights or Russell Crowe.
-
Mark - They are as menacing as the cast of "Last of the Summer Wine".
I don't know these guys but I do recognise one from the large group photo.
On TV3 News it looked like the guys were being given a bit of 'The Treatment' by the cops, by being run around at more than a brisk pace.
And they're on remand - they popped the big boys balls & now the Judge in Blenheim is getting all testy.
-
A S,
According to the Herald, the three may be charged with sabotage, which carries a max of ten years imprisonment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10507033
-
That would require the prosecution to argue that Waihopai was vital to the "safety, security, or defence of New Zealand" - and more importantly allow the defence to argue that it is not. And I don't think that's really an argument the government will want to have.
-
It'll be tresspass if anything.
What got me was the shot of the truck with the crane they were going to use to get over the fence had fallen off the side of the road. They then improvised to achieve their task, and had time to wait and pray.
Any pretence New Zealand is part of the War on Terror shud be stopped now, if these 3 pacifist guys, a farmer, a teacher, and a preacher have launched an unstoppable assult on the number one intel asset in the country and succeeded, well some people weren't doing their job very well.
Of course it might have been the fog, it might have been...
Didn't Havoc & Newsboy do the same thing already?
-
Is it only me, or should disarmament start with sickles? Seems like another case of do as I say, not do as I do.
Many medieval weapons (which were used in quite nasty, violent slaughter) were adapted from peasant tools. The okinawans have rice flails (nunchuka), boat oars and the like. But for centuries in Europe people would put a sickle on the end of a pole and call it a Fauchard
-
Malcolm that's part of their symbolism.
Instead of sickles read pruning hook.
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation; and there shall be no more training for war. Isaiah 2:4
-
Make no mistake these guys are pacifists.
-
WH,
There are a couple of interesting articles in WaPo today about the commodity boom and food prices
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042902880.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042903092.html?hpid=topnews
-
Shep: I do take your point, but there is a scale of these things.
Some would argue that US consumer choices create violence and oppression in the middle east. Are the US consumer's therefore to blame? Should they be stopped? Yet their behaviour is far more pacifistic that these sickle wielding activists.
And if sickle attacks against are justified, where do you draw the line? If Nato air action against the Serbian invasion/police action in Kosovo also justified? What about Nato intervention in Afghanistan? Or the US invasion of Iraq? Or the police action in Ruatoki?
To my mind, by taking up arms, they are no longer pacifists. Good intentions don't cut it. Everybody thinks they are morally justified - including suicide bombers and cruise missile technicians.
-
Any pretence New Zealand is part of the War on Terror shud be stopped now, if these 3 pacifist guys, a farmer, a teacher, and a preacher have launched an unstoppable assult on the number one intel asset in the country and succeeded, well some people weren't doing their job very well.
And that's one of the nice things about this country. We're not an armed encampment, with "shoot to kill" signs everywhere and a militaristic mindset. We're just a quiet backwater, where our spies are (mostly) ineffectual - and we get horribly upset when they're not.
-
Malcom: We'll disagree on their actions validity, if I can note it was not against any person and therefore is not compareable to the others noted IMHO.
I/S: I agree, nice. We are starting to see a bit of a change in mind sets. That nutter 'Sherif' who shot at the kids and a growing offensive gun culture & If I can link our growing call for a pound of flesh in the growing prison pop.
Also I shud note these guys are a bit too hard core for me although I have a lot of simpathy and respect for them and their ideals.
-
Good intentions don't cut it.
Isn't that why you need a sickle?
-
A S,
...a growing offensive gun culture...
Are we living in the same country? Are we developing a culture where we own 'offensive' guns, or one where some find guns 'offensive'?
If you are suggesting that we have a culture where people want to own guns purely to use to shoot people with, the perhaps you should visit the police website and read up on the arms code. Just in case there is any doubt, seeking to own a firearm for the purposes of self-defence, or offence is illegal.
On the whole Waihopai thing, how many hip operations, or cataract operations does $1million buy? Seems to be a fairly selfish way for this group to make their point, esp as the dome will be repaired, and at our cost as taxpayers. I for one, would have preferred that money to go to something worthwhile.
-
What?? Havoc and Newsboy did it first in 2001 when they used a ladder to climb the fence, roamed around a bit and had a pee on on the facilities. In some ways, it was more audacious as they did it with the aim of putting their actions on primetime TV, to show the non-existent security.
-
What?? Havoc and Newsboy did it first in 2001 when they used a ladder to climb the fence, roamed around a bit and had a pee on on the facilities. In some ways, it was more audacious as they did it with the aim of putting their actions on primetime TV, to show the non-existent security.
and they danced. they grooved out with those funky bubbles.
from memory they got close enough to actually pop it themselves, I wouldnt have thought it was that easy...but they didnt [pop it] and therefore did not get the front page of the herald. any one that says the ploughshares could have got their point across as effectively in other ways is wrong.
-
And I don't think that's really an argument the government will want to have.
Exactly what I thought when I heard they were mooting sabotage charges.
Although if it's down to Senior Constable Plod, they might find themselves making that argument whether they like it or not.
-
A S,
any one that says the ploughshares could have got their point across as effectively in other ways is wrong.
This logic is a bit screwy, isn't it?
If I thought the education system was bad, would I be justified in burning down a school? Or if I had concerns about the health system, would I be justified setting a couple of wards ablaze?
-
With regards to the idea of having a income tax-free threshold (of $5k or whatever) - apart from the obvious negative of less tax income for govt - are there any arguments against this idea?
It seems to be the easiest and most effective way of putting more money into the hands of those who need it... and avoids any of the concerns that others have raised about food stamps and WFF etc
-
Also - fruit in schools.
I have seen recently (before school hols) both students and teachers bringing large bags of apples to school to share with other students and teachers.
If you have a surplus of fresh produce it is customary to share with others you know - it has always been like this in my family and with many people i know.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.