The Edmonds in question is Barbara; the best option Labour has to masquerade as opposition finance minister. To give Barbara her due she does have experience in tax law and tax policy. She studied law at Auckland University and then took a position with Inland Revenue in Wellington doing tax policy.
Edmonds says she was never a fan of tax and that she learned through her law studies that tax was a major factor in the fall of the Roman Empire: it was through over taxation. It is therefore somewhat ironic, in my view, that she joined the Labour Party; the party whose raison d’être is to tax the population, particularly the rich, in as many ways as possible.
Edmonds’ expertise in tax law unfortunately doesn’t extend to her portfolio overall. This was evident recently when she produced a graph purporting to show that, in its second term of office, Labour reduced New Zealand’s debt levels by $31 billion. In nominal terms the graph appeared to show the Labour Government repaid debt faster than any government since 1972 – an extraordinary feat in the midst of a pandemic.
The facts are that during its second term Labour had a smaller tax take and borrowing increased by billions more than Edmonds claimed the government had reduced it by. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the incident was “either a case of fiscal ignorance or wilful deception”. Edmonds’ reply was to accuse Willis of being desperate to distract from her own mismanagement of the economy.
Labour seized on the fact that Willis had changed the main indicator that shows whether the government is running a surplus or deficit in a way that took ACC out of the equation thereby making the deficit look smaller. They ran ads accusing her of “cooking the books” and “no amount of spin can cover this” was the accompanying text.
In another piece of irony, the error in Edmonds’ chart was a result of Labour’s own book-cooking. This occurred in 2022 when Grant Robertson changed the government’s main debt indicator to include the assets of the Super Fund. Again, this made the debt look smaller.
Labour Party MPs either have short memories or don’t believe the old saying “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” applies to them. Edmonds has since fixed her graph gaffe but the damage has been done. She has cooked her goose in a way you won’t find in the more reputable Edmonds cookbook.
In the role of finance spokesperson, she needs to look at the ingredients that go into making a successful recipe for the economy; otherwise, she might end up with no more than a burnt offering that will not go down well with the public’s appetite.
JC is a right-wing crusader. Reached an age that embodies the dictum only the good die young. This article was first published HERE
Edmonds’ expertise in tax law unfortunately doesn’t extend to her portfolio overall. This was evident recently when she produced a graph purporting to show that, in its second term of office, Labour reduced New Zealand’s debt levels by $31 billion. In nominal terms the graph appeared to show the Labour Government repaid debt faster than any government since 1972 – an extraordinary feat in the midst of a pandemic.
The facts are that during its second term Labour had a smaller tax take and borrowing increased by billions more than Edmonds claimed the government had reduced it by. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the incident was “either a case of fiscal ignorance or wilful deception”. Edmonds’ reply was to accuse Willis of being desperate to distract from her own mismanagement of the economy.
Labour seized on the fact that Willis had changed the main indicator that shows whether the government is running a surplus or deficit in a way that took ACC out of the equation thereby making the deficit look smaller. They ran ads accusing her of “cooking the books” and “no amount of spin can cover this” was the accompanying text.
In another piece of irony, the error in Edmonds’ chart was a result of Labour’s own book-cooking. This occurred in 2022 when Grant Robertson changed the government’s main debt indicator to include the assets of the Super Fund. Again, this made the debt look smaller.
Labour Party MPs either have short memories or don’t believe the old saying “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” applies to them. Edmonds has since fixed her graph gaffe but the damage has been done. She has cooked her goose in a way you won’t find in the more reputable Edmonds cookbook.
In the role of finance spokesperson, she needs to look at the ingredients that go into making a successful recipe for the economy; otherwise, she might end up with no more than a burnt offering that will not go down well with the public’s appetite.
JC is a right-wing crusader. Reached an age that embodies the dictum only the good die young. This article was first published HERE
3 comments:
Excellent analysis - but will the average NZ voter know about this situation - let alone understand the implications?
NZ , due to its social " Ardernian" transformation, may now purport to lead the world in the " great economic reset" voted by ignorant citizens - but the results will be disastrous for all but the controlling elite.
How to correct this now when solid education has been replaced by propaganda? This is the key to any normal future than NZ may have.
One of the most far reaching pieces of legislation during Labour's rule was the Data and Statistics Act 2022. Previously the Government Statistician was independent of the government, like the Ombudsman or Auditor General. That changed under Labour so that NZ's official statistics became part of Jacinda's propaganda machine. This was heavily criticized by constitutional experts at the time, such as Sir Geoffrey Palmer (despite his own Labour leanings), but naturally the legislation and criticism was completely covered up by the mainstream media. I mentioned it in comments to Stuff articles, but Stuff typically didn't print any of those comments.
Is this " Dear Lady " any relation to Rachel Reeves, current Chancellor of The Exchequer, of the current Labour Party (Govt) in the United Kingdom. The aforementioned Lady has been
" reported as having the financial genius of a Wombat".
And with that stated Govt. it is interesting that both TVNZ & TV3 seem to miss in reporting any news out the UK.
BUT (always a but), if our current Govt was also the labour party (NZ) we would be inundated with news about the party, their caucus meetings, photo ops at any and every school - anything I have missed - oh yes Taxation.
If anyone, in NZ, thinks that Grant Robertson was bad, research Michael Cullen, Min of Finance - Helen Clark years.
Cullen & Robertson were Academic Buddies, Robertson spent the 9 years of the Clark Govt on the 9th floor of the Beehive, shared a desk with Jacinda Ardern.
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