Do agree with MartinB & Gareth Morgan on one issue, NZ would be better if less was invested in property and more in shares or businesses as is far more common in the US
If I was in Govt I'd somehow incentivise that cultural shift (don't ask me how), bring in a capital gains tax (CGT) like Aus has (even though that would likely hit me personally at some point), and also means test the pension. If you have say $2M in net assets outside the family home, a reduced pension pro rata down to nothing by say net $5M.
I'd somehow seek to ring fence the tax received from CGT, to only be spent on Govt infrastructure projects. The tax received private asset sales to be spent solely on building new national assets. A slightly easier sell to the Baby Boomers, or anyone who's worked hard to build an asset nest egg.
Taking away the ability to deduct interest on rental properties was dumb legislation. It was just meaning rents going up even faster. Landlords & renters both hit. And being a landlord is running a business like any other. Landlords should however do the Healthy Homes stuff. The small minority of landlords complaining about those requirements give the rest a bad name.
Lloyd Morrison had some great ideas. A sad loss on many fronts.
GDP per capita NZ $US54K. Australia $69K. So an 'average' Aussie is roughly 28% more wealthy than an 'average' Kiwi.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/illoyd-morrisoni-time-to-reclaim-status-as-gods-own/GINM7MPCSBGDBJB5GRJJQ7SIQI/
The only way this will be achieved is through the electorate consistently holding governments accountable for progress towards a measurable goal over a very long period of time. We need the "person on the street" to become as passionate about our country's economic performance as he or she is about our sporting results - after all, we don't even tolerate an All Blacks loss in a Rugby World Cup quarter-final (and I'm not suggesting we should).
Calling for a dramatic increase in New Zealand's productivity could be confused with advocating untrammelled growth and short-term gain.
But we've seen what the blind pursuit of short-term profit can do, and we think the way forward is to promote New Zealand's long-term prosperity, rather than pursue growth myopically.
If I was in Govt I'd somehow incentivise that cultural shift (don't ask me how), bring in a capital gains tax (CGT) like Aus has (even though that would likely hit me personally at some point), and also means test the pension. If you have say $2M in net assets outside the family home, a reduced pension pro rata down to nothing by say net $5M.
I'd somehow seek to ring fence the tax received from CGT, to only be spent on Govt infrastructure projects. The tax received private asset sales to be spent solely on building new national assets. A slightly easier sell to the Baby Boomers, or anyone who's worked hard to build an asset nest egg.
Taking away the ability to deduct interest on rental properties was dumb legislation. It was just meaning rents going up even faster. Landlords & renters both hit. And being a landlord is running a business like any other. Landlords should however do the Healthy Homes stuff. The small minority of landlords complaining about those requirements give the rest a bad name.
Lloyd Morrison had some great ideas. A sad loss on many fronts.
GDP per capita NZ $US54K. Australia $69K. So an 'average' Aussie is roughly 28% more wealthy than an 'average' Kiwi.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/illoyd-morrisoni-time-to-reclaim-status-as-gods-own/GINM7MPCSBGDBJB5GRJJQ7SIQI/
The only way this will be achieved is through the electorate consistently holding governments accountable for progress towards a measurable goal over a very long period of time. We need the "person on the street" to become as passionate about our country's economic performance as he or she is about our sporting results - after all, we don't even tolerate an All Blacks loss in a Rugby World Cup quarter-final (and I'm not suggesting we should).
Calling for a dramatic increase in New Zealand's productivity could be confused with advocating untrammelled growth and short-term gain.
But we've seen what the blind pursuit of short-term profit can do, and we think the way forward is to promote New Zealand's long-term prosperity, rather than pursue growth myopically.