“Talk of a cross-party agreement offers the Government a chance to rebalance New Zealand’s tax system say the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA).  The tax haven in land and buildings has fuelled non-tradeable inflation and this is too much for the tradeable sector to carry.  The claim that a Capital Gains Tax, where the family home is exempt, is unpalatable has more to do with the self interest of a few than any general rejection.

NZMEA Chief Executive John Walley says, “Things like reducing Government spending and minimising compliance costs are necessary but we cannot expect a balanced economy while property tax havens exist.  Phil Goff is to be congratulated for making an offer of a cross party agreement, adding his voice to those of the Treasury and the Reserve Bank.  Now is the time to balance the tax code and close off this damaging tax haven.”

“Bill English has spelt out the problems with New Zealand’s economy; there is too much household consumption and insufficient investment in the traded economy.  It is difficult to attract productive investment when investments in land and buildings are tax free and the return on tradable activity is so uncertain due to a massively overvalued currency.  Real policy change is needed, not talk or wishful thinking.”

“Alan Bollard also spelt out the difficulties of managing inflation during a housing bubble in his last Monetary Policy Statement.  The high interest rates aimed at stopping the housing bubble attract foreign money damaging the export sector via a substantially over-valued dollar.”

“If the Government is opposed to an asset tax we at least need to hear why – ‘I don’t like them’ does not convey why they are a bad idea for the country.”

From the NZMEA

“Most banks are only interested in making as much money as possible out of their current customers, Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles says.”

From the NZ Herald

“New Zealand is “using the credit card to pay the mortgage” and if it continues we will lose our sovereignty to Australia, politicians were told today.”

From the NZ Herald

“Technology exporter Rakon yesterday called for something to be done about the volatility of the New Zealand dollar.”

“Overseas traders profit from playing with our currency and they do so partly because as a nation we borrow so much offshore for non-export product assets, such as investment in housing,” chairman Bryan Mogridge said at the annual meeting.

From the NBR

“How on earth can we expect the government to rationally debate the need for a capital gains or land tax when they’re just as ruthlessly exploiting the tax laws to reduce their taxes. And they’re in charge of collecting taxes!”

From Bernard Hickey, NZ Herald

“As the furore surrounding Ministers’ use of taxpayer money for housing allowances escalates, it has come to light that some Ministers are receiving rent from properties they own from fellow MP’s, and that the income is from taxpayer funded living allowances.”

From Alex Tarrant, interest.co.nz

“David Preston offered a good appraisal of our monetary policy in his presentation entitled Putting Credit Back into Monetary Policy. His argument was that if you measure the success of monetary policy only by the objectives set out in the Policy Targets Agreement then it has been fairly successful, but if you measure success according to wider economic objectives then it has failed.”

From John Wally on interest.co.nz

“Second tier’ ratings agency Fitch is currently reviewing New Zealand’s AA+ foreign currency credit rating. Here’s 10 reasons below why it should downgrade New Zealand’s rating. Standard and Poor’s wimped out. Let’s hope Fitch doesn’t.”

From Bernard Hickey,  Interest.co.nz

“The issues in my opinion are simple. Our main banks are almost branch offices of their Australian parents. Those banks borrow money, loan it cheaply to Australians and then further clip the ticket and lend it here at interest rates above those across the Tasman.”

From The NZ Farmers Weekly

“NZMEA Chief Executive John Walley says, “Proper debate on bank margins will be helpful because, as Alan Bollard has already noted, short term margins are too high and generally margins have increased since the financial crisis. However, the inquiry needs to go further than this and look at why New Zealand’s interest rates are consistently higher than the rates of many of our competitors and how this is affecting our economic performance.”

From the NZMEA