Posts by Keir Leslie
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Works for real, just like capitalism says it should.
People respond to incentives! Fuck Yeah Rational Interest!
This is exactly why I am so puzzled at the hatred of GST exemption of fruit and veg. According to totally boring neo-classicist economics it is a good idea. Yet many people committed to neo-classicism hate it. Which really, to me, suggests it isn't neo-classicism they are committed to, so much as fucking poor people over.
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This applies to god knows what. It WILL be a minefield. Are imported oranges? NZ Oranges? Whole Ginger or mashed and bottled ginger?
But once we make the decisions, it will be pretty simple to implement. And the decisions are not actually that challenging, because the lines are arbitrary, It is not going to be a minefield. We are capable of judging what a reasonable salary is, and whether someone is actually employed in the running of a business, and so-on. Compared to that, fresh fruit and veg is easy.
But that isn't really the point; the thing is that the reasons for for the GST exemption are evidence based. So why is it populist gimmickry?
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Mostly the fact that when it comes to it, Attorney General and Minister for Treaty Negotiations are always going to be more important to Finlayson than Culutre & Heritage. The organisational set up is not good.
The other problem with appreciative patrons is that they have an idea of art that revolves around the patron. Which is all well and good until it turns into `let's push for philanthropic giving! that'll pay for the arts right' which uh I have problems with.
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Why stop at “fresh fruit and vegetables”? Seriously – can’t you make a similar public good case for zero-rating lean meat, milk, locally produced clothes and footwear (seriously, keeping kids clothed is a money pit), electricity etc.?
Which is a hypothetical slippery slope argument based on the purity of the tax code. Against it we can put real quantifiable figures produced by real actual academics doing real actual studies. Which is why the `populist gimmick' thing confuses me. GST off fresh fruit and veg is classical technocratic evidence driven tinkering.
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But the fresh fruit and veg exemption is pretty simple. It is worrying if it opens the floodgates to lots and lots of exemptions.
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But the ease of administration argument is not hugely convincing. I accept that there is an adminstrative cost to making exceptions. But it is tiny. It is tiny both absolutely, and compared to the rather more massive cost of not getting the tax any more. Yet it gets a great deal of play as a serious, principled objection. But it isn't. It is anti-populist gimmickry.
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I agree completely. GST-free fruit & veges is a populist gimmick.
Why? Why is it a gimmick? There are actual real studies done that look like they prove it is a good idea.
It is philosophically attractive (tax bads not goods where possible) and, given that GST hits low incomes hardest, will make most of a difference at the bottom of the tax distribution.
The only argument against it is one based on the purity of a universal goods and services tax, which is all very nice but really, when you get down to it, fundamentally an aesthetic argument about clarity and tidiness.
So why is it a gimmick, for heaven's sake?
(If I was being catty I would argue it is a case of Very Serious People agreeing that nice things are Bad.)
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Ok, the Frizzell low blow was funny and apt, but this one isn’t.
I have no problem with spending money on elitist art at all. It is just that I do not think Finlayson has any connection with the arts except as a patron and a trustee. Which is no failing on his part, but it is slightly grating.
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It actually matters. I think quite a lot.
I think it matters a lot too. I do not think it matters a lot to politicians,. And I think it should, and if I were on the Labour Arts & Heritage policy committee I would be ashamed to have let such a crap policy go out.
But then what do you expect? Labour's culture and heritage spokesperson's main connection to the arts would appear to be that she is a Frizzell. (That's a bit low. But.) The Minister is a rich man who likes to go to listen to the orchestra.
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I don't know. I think there was a conversation on Twitter about the Labour policy --- Cheryl Bernstein & Hamish Keith pretty ho-hum all round. The Barrs have a decent summary.
I think it is probably fair to say that arts policies are not the most heatedly debated policies in the world, and I would be very surprised if most members or MPs could tell you what was in the arts policy. It is a backwater, and so very easily captured.
The Greens (a) use the word secretariat, and (b) have a bizarre obsession with community art.
All round, thank god for the fact that none of these things will ever actually happen, and the fact that the ministry probably has sane people who will calm down the crazy.