JD: Let Us First Establish the Basic Facts

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

Time to stop fawning over TOP as the bright young things of New Zealand politics and take a look at how much of a threat they pose to the peace of mind, financial wellbeing and, by extension, the health of every Kiwi pensioner.

TOP makes several claims including:

David Farrar: Labour desperate to tax us more

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the party’s tax policy is still a live discussion after the Labour Party social media account shared an account of a party meeting where former Revenue Minister David Parker allegedly discussed something called a Capital Income Tax.

Hipkins confirmed members were discussing a range of taxes,

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The IMF should apologize.....

The IMF should apologize for its NZ Mission Chief stating our IRD supports Capital & Land Taxes (when it doesn't)

In order to achieve maximum embarrassment to the government, our bankrupting One (Sided) News channel splashed on TV screens its headline news story featuring International Monetary Fund NZ Mission Chief, Evan Papageorgiou, calling for a comprehensive tax on capital gains to be introduced in our country, as well as a land tax which should 'increase the progressivity of income tax' - widening the gap between lower & higher tax rates. He said, "We've recommended (capital & land taxes) repeatedly, [and] yes, I know that politicians don't pay attention .. Treasury & IRD also have similar opinions, there is a quite a lot of good enough advice out there to influence the public debate."