}

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The big truth about NZ taxes

Okay, it’s time we got this out in the open, the one thing no one will talk about publicly. It’s the central proposition of the National-led Government’s tax “reform” plans.

So, it’s time to speak the unspeakable truth: No one moves overseas and leaves New Zealand because of taxes.

I know, I know, I’m shouting that the emperor has no clothes, but that’s because the conservatives’ plans are utterly naked. Both the National Party and their coalition partner, the neoconservative Act Party, constantly declare that taxes simply must be cut or we’ll lose a generation of young New Zealanders to other countries.

Do these people expect us to buy this rubbish? Do they think we were all born yesterday or something?

Young people have been leaving New Zealand to live overseas for decades—there’s absolutely nothing new in this. Not only have they done this, they’ll continue to do so no mater what happens with New Zealand income tax. That’s a fact, one that conservatives don’t want people to know.

People go overseas for a variety of reasons: Adventure, career opportunity, the chance to live in another country or a bigger city. New Zealand is a small country. Its biggest city has only about 1.4 million people. Bigger countries are, and will always be, a draw.

The right wing also exaggerates their case. For example, studies have demonstrated that New Zealanders who move to Australia find things aren’t as great as the NZ right likes to tell New Zealanders they are. Also, there have been record numbers of New Zealanders returning home.

These and other examples show that life overseas isn’t attracting people for economic reasons alone—and definitely not because of New Zealand tax rates.

Yet the right keeps pushing this nonsense, anyway. It’s about time the newsmedia in New Zealand stopped letting them get away with it.

7 comments:

Ann said...

I've heard a few news reports lately (mainly the same story reworded a bit) on Denmark and how happy people are there with a similarly socialistic gov't as NZ's, although it sounds even more "safety-netty" than here, too. They pay even higher taxes than we do, too.

One of them reported that Oprah went over and did some interviewing and could not grasp that people were actually HAPPY to pay taxes because it meant a happy, safe society.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
d said...

The biggest part of all this is that Australia's taxes are HIGHER!! (Except the GST, of course - NZ's GST is the highest in the AsiaPac region).

Yes, that's right - OZ has higher income taxes.

Tell me again, National, how NZ needs to compete....?

Unknown said...

Young people have always left the small towns for the big city. As Leon Uris wrote; "How're you going to keep them on the farm?"

In our global world New Zealand is, always has been, and always will be, the small town. We just don't have the resources of Europe, the US, or even Australia.

People leave the big cities for the country for peace, and a safe environment to raise children. Youth have to go to the city for education, for employment, and to meet other young people.

Arthur Schenck said...

The deleted comment was a spam comment. I've been leaving that notice as a warning to spammers that I monitor comments and always delete spam.

Ann: I've seen some of those, too. I think it shows that taxes per se are not the issue for most people, but instead a feeling that they're not getting good value from them. The right is happy to exploit that try and change the conversation their way, but that doesn't make them correct.

D: Exactly!! And Australia has plenty of other taxes (like stamp duty) that we don't have. Things are far better in New Zealand than National or Act will admit.

Michael: Yes, that's it exactly! New Zealanders move around for a variety of reasons—always have, always will. Tax just isn't one of the reasons.

toujoursdan said...

Almost the identical rhetoric I'd hear in Canada. It is used on both sides of the border as an reason to dismantle Canadian healthcare and income support programs, which are more generous in Canada.

Arthur Schenck said...

NZ's neoconservative Act Party wants to disembowel our health and education systems, and they use the code words "choice" and "competition" as their subterufge.

It seems conservatives in Commonwealth countries have their own games to play, too.