Damien Grant: Hipkins’ capital gains tax policy leaves more questions than answers

Periodically my wife will bring home some Ikea-knock-off and expect me to assemble it; or worse find an odd-job around the house that any competent male could easily attend to and instruct me to attend to it.

You would think, after two decades of marriage and many failed handyman assignments, she’d have accepted the limitations of the man she walked down the aisle towards. Acceptance is the key to happiness, according to Epictetus.

Peter Dunne: Capital Gains Tax

In 1994 the then Labour Opposition resolved to introduce a new top tax rate of 39 cents in the dollar. The reason for the policy was purely political, not fiscal. Labour was shedding votes to Jim Anderton's left-wing Alliance at the time and wanted to do something symbolic to staunch the flow. Increasing the tax rate on top income earners would be that symbolic gesture.