Tax receipts are the sort of quirky idea people pick up on and run with. They're the sort of left-of-centre idea the media can have a bit of fun with.
The trouble with that, is that we actually have some important stuff to deal with and for every minute you talk about what sort of receipt it would be, how it would be done, and what it would cost, you aren't talking about things like our debt or our spending or our crime or the number of kids who aren't going to school.
If there was any value in the idea it would be if you could break it down to a net balance. In other words, how many of us pay more than we get back versus the other way around.
That might, once and for all, shut all those up who forever see the so-called wealthy as an endless pot of free money.
The stark truth would be revealed that a comparatively small number of taxpayers foot the bill for an awful lot of other taxpayers who take from the state a lot more than they ever put in.
But then, that's the other problem with the whole idea. Do we not already know, roughly, what's what?
Firstly, what we know is that the Government spends more than they take and that's why we have deficits. Then we can guess that large chunks go to health and welfare and education and lots go to the ever-growing public service.
What's the value in all that?
By receiving this information, and presumably growing angry over it because you see a pile of monumental wastage, then what?
Are they changing it? Or are they doing nothing about it at all? And if that's the case, which it will be, what's the point?
If National are to be taken seriously, they have to avoid these very easy traps they are falling into.
This is a gimmick, and the media loves gimmicks. It makes their life easier.
I don't need a receipt to know this Government's approach to money is ruinous.
What I need is a group of people who get that the path we are on is dangerous, the social malaise in this country is even more dangerous and that this election is about righting the ship.
Or, as David Seymour put it yesterday, turning us into a large Fiji.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings
The stark truth would be revealed that a comparatively small number of taxpayers foot the bill for an awful lot of other taxpayers who take from the state a lot more than they ever put in.
But then, that's the other problem with the whole idea. Do we not already know, roughly, what's what?
Firstly, what we know is that the Government spends more than they take and that's why we have deficits. Then we can guess that large chunks go to health and welfare and education and lots go to the ever-growing public service.
What's the value in all that?
By receiving this information, and presumably growing angry over it because you see a pile of monumental wastage, then what?
Are they changing it? Or are they doing nothing about it at all? And if that's the case, which it will be, what's the point?
If National are to be taken seriously, they have to avoid these very easy traps they are falling into.
This is a gimmick, and the media loves gimmicks. It makes their life easier.
I don't need a receipt to know this Government's approach to money is ruinous.
What I need is a group of people who get that the path we are on is dangerous, the social malaise in this country is even more dangerous and that this election is about righting the ship.
Or, as David Seymour put it yesterday, turning us into a large Fiji.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings
3 comments:
Why insult Fiji?
The trouble is that the Government is quite often not spending money where it says it. If it says it has allocated say $2.5 billion extra into mental health but mental health only got say $100k then where did the money go. Lots of examples of this are happening.
Christopher Luxon and National propose a simple measure/report which MUST be put in place if we are to have competent stewardship of our public finances, and promises to make the measure available to taxpayers to improve government spending transparency.
The despicable NZ media rallies against it.
Are there any half intelligent grownups left in NZ?
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