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November 6, 2007 3:55pm by David Farrar

Who said this?

“Tax cuts are a path to inequality… They are the promises of visionless and intellectually bankrupt people”

Who said this and when?

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Comments (135)

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Lindsay Addie

idiot,

Do you agree or disagree with this statement by Colin Espiner in his blog? The url to the complete article is at the end:

“The other noticeable change from Labour is that it’s started referring to practically any form of tax relief, rebate, or credit as a “tax cut”. Hence, Clark and Cullen have claimed of late that the Government has delivered “billions of dollars worth of tax cuts” to hard-working Kiwis over the past nine years.

This is no doubt news to many, given the Government’s tax take has virtually doubled since 1999 and many people are paying more tax now than they were when Labour came to office. But Labour now includes Working for Families as a de facto tax cut, despite the fact that in many cases those receiving substantial sums actually pay no tax at all or even receive more than they pay to start with.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/politics/2007/10/24/working-for-families-cant-be-tax-cuts-in-drag/

As far as I’m concerned WFF isn’t a tax cut it is a type of benefit as one as to apply for it. One shouldn’t have to apply for a genuine tax cut.
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November 6, 2007 10:18pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

And – this is esoteric, but bear with me: How come people need so much money?

Perhaps the solution is not to dither around with taxes but to find some other system of exchange? It concerns me that money seems to be the most commonly used way of placing value on an object or person.
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November 6, 2007 10:20pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

Just one more thing:
Nobody say “because that’s the way the world is.”

We all know that human beings didn’t spring into being with bundles of cash in their hands.
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November 6, 2007 10:34pm
burt

Robyn

It surprises you that money seems to be the most commonly used way of placing value on an object ???? A person – I can agree with the ethical delima. But nate money has been around for centuries, you grew up with it, you have not know any different. It’s what we use to buy things, computers to blog on etc – so yes it’s the common measure of worth of an object.
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November 6, 2007 10:35pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

It doesn’t surprise me – it concerns me. Time for a change, maybe. Or at least time to start thinking of ways it COULD change?
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November 6, 2007 10:37pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

And we’ve had love and enjoyment for a lot longer than we’ve had money.
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November 6, 2007 10:37pm
burt

Robyn

We spring into the world covered in goop, blood and stuff. Nobody is seriously advocating that we stay that way for ever are they?
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November 6, 2007 10:37pm
ManukauMum

Gee sorry Robyn but unless you have the kind of society portrayed by Star Trek (i.e.Science Fiction) you are going to need some medium of exchange. For the last few thousand years that has generally meant money.
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November 6, 2007 10:38pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

So you think money is evolution? In a lamarkian sense – that is, is it better that what we were born as.
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November 6, 2007 10:38pm
burt

Robyn

money was invented to resolve disputes about value and debasement of value by having a common commodity. It might be a good idea to talk about the structure of society and it’s values but unless you are talking about dismantling society as we know it it’s rather pointless to discuss using money as a measure of worth.
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November 6, 2007 10:40pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

If so, is there an evolution beyond this?
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November 6, 2007 10:40pm
burt

ooops, it’s rather pointless to discuss removing money as a measure of worth.
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November 6, 2007 10:41pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

It’s not pointless – because I don’t know how else to resolve the fact that whoever was around when money was thunk up got all the money.
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November 6, 2007 10:41pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

Which is not to say that removing it is necessary – I’m simply going antithesis in the hopes that the synthesis will present itself.
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November 6, 2007 10:42pm
burt

For sure, who can predict. Imagine a world without oil, peace in the deserted middle east and wars around milder climates. Where do we start ? Is it on thread for tax cuts, or are they out of the equation because we have scrapped money and now trade with fertility rights for people sterile through eating too much GE food.
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November 6, 2007 10:43pm
hinamanu

I R D hate cash and as a result they’re working on gradually phasing it out.

Of course the politicians never talk about the cashless society even though we all know its coming. One day they’ll just do it. They’ll take the cash away and everything we buy we be recorded at p.o.s.

Big Brother will have us wrapt up.

and that is the reason for money.

Can you believe the tax system was started up just b4 ww1 because an economist told Woodrow Wilson if his people did not pay taxes they would not work. he knew that was utter horse hockey but it was all the excuse he needed.
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November 6, 2007 10:43pm
infused

The Kyoto Protocol is bullshit.
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November 6, 2007 10:43pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

I agree that money is useful, for one thing. But I don’t – well, I don’t need very much of it, really. I don’t buy very many things, and usually they’re second hand. I don’t really know what people would spend all that money that gets “taken away” in taxes on, if I’m honest.
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November 6, 2007 10:44pm
infused

Thanks for speaking for all of us Robyn.
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November 6, 2007 10:45pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

I’m not. I’m saying what I think. That’s why i said “I don’t really know.”
Please tell me what you think.
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November 6, 2007 10:46pm
Robyn E. Kenealy

Oh crap, I have to go. I’m sorry. I did want to know.

Mostly I just wanted to find out how people thought about money – and whether or not you considered it, you know, “inevitable.”

Someone has to ask this stuff sometimes.
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November 6, 2007 10:49pm
burt

Goodnight Robyn
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November 6, 2007 10:53pm
hinamanu

nice input Robyn
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November 6, 2007 10:58pm
Pascal

Robyn, see money simply as a means of counting value.

Your artwork and cartoons have a certain value to you and you assign that value to it. Pak n Save has assigned a value to their eggs, bread and milk. They do not want a cartoon though, but I do. So, I give you money to the amount you have valued your cartoon at. You take that money and you give it to Pak n Save to the amount they have valued their eggs, bread and milk at. It saves Pak n Save the trouble of having to come up to Auckland with a cartoon they did not want so we could complete this whole barter process.

In that respect money is immaterial, it’s simply a unit of measurement that has no value beyond what we assign to it. We don’t need to move beyond it as there will always be a need to value what we have created.
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November 7, 2007 8:39am
david

Newsflash!!!

Labour’s new tax policy has been leaked and is “out”

A new top tax rate of 45% will be introduced at $100,000. This will officially be known as the “rich bastards’ rate” and will completely devastate any claim that the top tax rate affects more than 5% of the earning sector. MP’s income will be exempt the top rate and will be taxed at the same flat rate as Maori Trusts (19.5%) but only if they are members of the governing party or coalition. All other MPs will face a flat rate of 45% ‘cos everyone knows they are all rich bastards. The WWF payments will be raised by 20% and the whole tax system will henceforth be officially known as “more tax cuts brought to you by Labour” This title will be required to be used in full in every publication and reference to taxation (whether by the media, bloggers, teachers and men-in-the-street) but nothing in this move is designed to circumvent any electioneering legislation and any suggestion that it is will be met by the full force of the law under the Repression of Terrorism Act. end of leak
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November 7, 2007 8:49am
Lee C

david – those b**ds!

What if I have lots of kids and don’t work?

Will I get anything?

sorry.
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November 7, 2007 9:09am
KevinOB

The statement can justified:

Everyone is to have a relative reduction in their net income after income tax by increasing the net income after income tax of those taxpayers not in receipt of any Social Welfare benefit or any other benefit subject to income tax, by a reduction in their rate of income tax, provided that there is to be no corresponding change in income tax for those taxpayers in receipt of any Social Welfare benefit or any other benefit subject to income tax, provided also that any reduction in any income tax will in any income year will not exceed one standard packet of chewing gum of 10 grams as determined by the Government Statistician for the purposes of this clause.

[H1,
This is what Treas. suggested last year.
I think we can make it 2 packets now. I hope they don´t object.
I quite like the chewing gum as we can make annual adjustments for inflation.
We could drop it if the fiscal drag doesn´t permit.
You know what to do.
M]
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November 7, 2007 9:57am
david

KevinOB
Absolutely and suitably obstruse, it sounds great, can be said with gravitas and the punters won’t understand a word of it. We will screw them while they sleep and if necessary we can repackage the gum so that there are 10 pieces per packet rather than the normally expected 12. He He He
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November 7, 2007 10:06am
david

Or perhaps more accurately the gum weight will be determined to be have a delta that is inversely proportional to the rate of inflation calculated on a standardised 365 day year and applied on a daily basis.
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November 7, 2007 10:08am
roger nome

“A new top tax rate of 45% will be introduced at $100,000. This will officially be known as the “rich bastards’ rate” and will completely devastate any claim that the top tax rate affects more than 5% of the earning sector.”

So Labour proposes to adopt the same top rate as Australia?
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November 7, 2007 11:15am
david

what can I say? !!!!!!
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November 7, 2007 11:33am
Pascal

Roger Nome: So Labour proposes to adopt the same top rate as Australia?

Except they plan to introduce it at what – about half of what Australia does? So what’s your entire point there nome?
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November 7, 2007 5:04pm
Pascal

And P.S. … wasn’t Dave joking there Roger?
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November 7, 2007 5:05pm
Andrew Bannister

[DPF: Nice try but not smoking can reduce your chances of cancer by huge amounts – say 20% or so. Now if giving up smoking decreased your chance of cancer by only 0.07% then it would be a hoax]

Ah, no! If I never start smoking, my chances of developing lung cancer do not decrease. Also, if I stop smoking now, my risk also doesn’t decrease all that much (not sure where you got your 20% from, if anything, that’s probably the reduction from doing further damage). My taking up smoking or continuing to do so does however increase the probability. The point is that while Kyoto might not reduce emissions by much, it will stop the increase. There is an important difference between ‘decreasing’ and ‘not increasing’.

Try boxing and brain injuries, loud noise and hearing loss, sun exposure and skin cancer. All things that, if you reduce the cause, willl not return you back to normal, but stopping the cause will reduce further damage.
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November 7, 2007 7:53pm
Margaret

Farrar are you ever going to correct the appalling misquote you have (and John Key) have made the subject of this quote? To be fair you ought to give what Clark actually said back in 2000 the same prominence you gave to the misquote.

What Clark actually said was:
“How can our nation go ahead without the public resources to make huge investments in our future potential? Tax cuts are a path to inequality and underdevelopment in today’s circumstances. They are the promises of vision-less and intellectually bankrupt people.” It’s in this Stuff article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4266154a1861.html

Your ellipsis took out the “in today’s circumstances” – NZ’s economic state has changed significantly in the last seven years, and the means Clark’s comment in 2000 is not contradictory of her stance now at all.

I really wish National people would give the NZ public the respect they deserve by actually being honest about their policies, and the words of the PM which they are trying to twist to damn her.
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November 10, 2007 3:38pm

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