• The Budget -- initial assessment

    From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Fri May 31 08:48:59 2024
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Gordon@21:1/5 to Crash on Fri May 31 03:27:58 2024
    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before
    starting the recovery procedure.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to Gordon on Fri May 31 17:53:44 2024
    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the >patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before
    starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit
    spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring
    stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they
    take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Fri May 31 22:38:04 2024
    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the >>patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit
    spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring
    stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they
    take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting.
    Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but
    a copy is here:
    https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have
    further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back
    again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough.
    Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 1 08:59:53 2024
    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the >>>patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they
    take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting.
    Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but
    a copy is here:
    https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have
    further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back
    again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough.
    Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The
    3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac
    funding.

    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the
    coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The
    coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their
    hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mutley@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Jun 1 15:38:49 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the >>>patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they
    take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords

    Fuck Rich. What handouts to landlords?? This government just
    returned things to what they were before your lot got all communist
    over landlords.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From David Goodwin@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 1 16:59:56 2024
    In article <[email protected]>, mutley2000 @hotmail.com says...

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords

    Fuck Rich. What handouts to landlords?? This government just
    returned things to what they were before your lot got all communist
    over landlords.

    I'm not sure how making interest not tax deducible is in any way
    communist. Its not like the Government tried nationalise land ownership
    or something.

    The word "communist" has an actual meaning. Referring to anything you
    don't like or anything on the left side of the spectrum as communist
    devalues that meaning.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Jun 1 17:49:25 2024
    On Sat, 1 Jun 2024 16:59:56 +1200, David Goodwin
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    In article <[email protected]>, mutley2000 >@hotmail.com says...

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >> >>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >> >>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >> >>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >> >>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >> >>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >> >>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >> >>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >> >>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >> >>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before
    starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit
    spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring
    stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >> >>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they
    take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords

    Fuck Rich. What handouts to landlords?? This government just
    returned things to what they were before your lot got all communist
    over landlords.

    I'm not sure how making interest not tax deducible is in any way
    communist. Its not like the Government tried nationalise land ownership
    or something.

    The word "communist" has an actual meaning. Referring to anything you
    don't like or anything on the left side of the spectrum as communist
    devalues that meaning.

    Exempting houses owned by landlords from capital gains tax is a
    significant bias towards such investments that does not apply to other organisations who own property as part of their business operations.
    Not allowing a tax deduction for interest on loans was a crude attempt
    to balance matters that did not totally address the bias against
    investment in other enterprises, but NAct1st have now restored the
    blatant bias in favour of landlords - with the Prime Minister
    personally benefiting, even though with only 7 properties he is far
    from being the largest beneficiary. See if you can find any other
    country that taxes capital gains exempting landlords from that tax . .
    .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 1 17:39:14 2024
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting.
    Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but
    a copy is here:
    https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have
    further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back
    again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough.
    Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The
    3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small
    reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their
    hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the
    election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting
    projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ
    Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the
    budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 1 22:09:08 2024
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but
    a copy is here: >>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have
    further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back
    again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough.
    Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small
    reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)

    Correct Rich - but if Labour had been re-elected that effect on rates
    is unknown and the effect on 3-waters would not have been an issue for
    elected local body politicians to deal with.

    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their
    hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the
    election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected.

    Pure conjecture on your part, no doubt motivated by your political
    bias. Commitments that are not in the coalition agreements are not
    commitments at all

    Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ
    Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the
    budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    More political rhetoric from you Rich. You cannot cite anything that
    the Government has done that is not in the coalition agreements.
    Contrast this with Labour as an outright majority in the previous
    Parliamentary term legislating for things never mentioned in their
    2020 manifesto. There are many Labour MPs in that government that
    remain in Parliament so hidden agendas are still a risk based on their
    past record.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gordon@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 2 01:56:09 2024
    On 2024-06-01, Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but
    a copy is here: >>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have
    further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back
    again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough.
    Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small
    reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their
    hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the
    election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ
    Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the
    budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    And that no doubt will be the National's fault.

    Disaters happen, some natural, and it is the expectation that the rest the country will help out via the Govenment giving assistance. We need to keep
    on making this country better without being consumed by the thought of the
    next disaster.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gordon@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 2 01:47:00 2024
    On 2024-06-01, Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 1 Jun 2024 16:59:56 +1200, David Goodwin
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    In article <[email protected]>, mutley2000 >>@hotmail.com says...

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>> >>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>> >>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>> >>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>> >>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>> >>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>> >>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>> >>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>> >>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>> >>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>> >>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>> >>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>> >>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>> >>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>> >>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before
    starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit
    spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring
    stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>> >>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>> >>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords

    Fuck Rich. What handouts to landlords?? This government just
    returned things to what they were before your lot got all communist
    over landlords.

    I'm not sure how making interest not tax deducible is in any way
    communist. Its not like the Government tried nationalise land ownership
    or something.

    The word "communist" has an actual meaning. Referring to anything you
    don't like or anything on the left side of the spectrum as communist >>devalues that meaning.

    Exempting houses owned by landlords from capital gains tax is a
    significant bias towards such investments that does not apply to other organisations who own property as part of their business operations.
    Not allowing a tax deduction for interest on loans was a crude attempt
    to balance matters that did not totally address the bias against
    investment in other enterprises, but NAct1st have now restored the
    blatant bias in favour of landlords - with the Prime Minister
    personally benefiting, even though with only 7 properties he is far
    from being the largest beneficiary. See if you can find any other
    country that taxes capital gains exempting landlords from that tax . .
    .
    The matter under discussion is one of being able to claim the cost of
    interest on properties that they own.

    It is inconsistant to not allow for this cost as it is a a cost to the
    business and all businesses are allowed to deduct the costs of doing
    business. It has been this way for eons and to have a ramdom exception it is muddling the waters.

    If you consider that the landords are making too much profit then we/you/us need to find another way to allow for the landlords to pay more tax.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 15:04:59 2024
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment
    to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but
    a copy is here: >>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have
    further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back
    again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough.
    Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small
    reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their
    hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the
    election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First
    Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies
    which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and
    midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ
    Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the
    budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 2 03:27:58 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise >>>>>>the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>a copy is here: >>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First
    Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies
    which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and
    midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."
    Which they are working on right now. Perhaps you should check again when the announcement comes.


    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 17:01:15 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 15:04:59 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>a copy is here: >>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First
    Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies
    which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and
    midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I acknowledge that many would interpret 'access to 13 more cancer
    treatments' as providing additional funding for cancer drugs not
    currently funded. However I took this to mean that this commitment
    was a reference to Cancer treatments (not drugs) in the context of
    reducing waiting times for cancer treatments.

    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to Gordon on Sun Jun 2 19:52:55 2024
    On 2 Jun 2024 01:47:00 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-06-01, Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 1 Jun 2024 16:59:56 +1200, David Goodwin
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    In article <[email protected]>, mutley2000 >>>@hotmail.com says...

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>> >wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>> >>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>> >>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>> >>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>> >>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>> >>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>> >>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>> >>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>> >>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>> >>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>> >>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>> >>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the
    triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring
    stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>> >>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>> >>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>> >>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>
    Fuck Rich. What handouts to landlords?? This government just
    returned things to what they were before your lot got all communist
    over landlords.

    I'm not sure how making interest not tax deducible is in any way >>>communist. Its not like the Government tried nationalise land ownership >>>or something.

    The word "communist" has an actual meaning. Referring to anything you >>>don't like or anything on the left side of the spectrum as communist >>>devalues that meaning.

    Exempting houses owned by landlords from capital gains tax is a
    significant bias towards such investments that does not apply to other
    organisations who own property as part of their business operations.
    Not allowing a tax deduction for interest on loans was a crude attempt
    to balance matters that did not totally address the bias against
    investment in other enterprises, but NAct1st have now restored the
    blatant bias in favour of landlords - with the Prime Minister
    personally benefiting, even though with only 7 properties he is far
    from being the largest beneficiary. See if you can find any other
    country that taxes capital gains exempting landlords from that tax . .
    .
    The matter under discussion is one of being able to claim the cost of >interest on properties that they own.

    It is inconsistant to not allow for this cost as it is a a cost to the >business and all businesses are allowed to deduct the costs of doing >business. It has been this way for eons and to have a ramdom exception it is >muddling the waters.

    If you consider that the landords are making too much profit then we/you/us >need to find another way to allow for the landlords to pay more tax.

    I don't want to limit anyone's investment income or profit, but all
    investments should be taxed on a consistent basis. The "brightline
    test" effectively means that landlords can easily manage their affairs
    to avid paying tax on all capital gains. I merely believe that tax on investments should be on the same basis for all investors. As it is,
    we see a flood of money going into rental housing making it harder for non-investors to own their own home, and immigration feeding a
    shortage of houses. Despite the previous government making the biggest
    increase in housing since the 1930's, we are still short, and rents
    are historically high - and at the same time small companies find it
    harder than they should to attract equity capital. So yes the "other
    way" you speak of is to tax these investment properties on the same
    basis as other investments - if a capital gain is realised, it should
    be taxable. If it is good enough for capital gains realised on
    investments backing Kiwisaver to be taxed, why not investments by
    landlords?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 20:26:58 2024
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 22:09:08 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>a copy is here: >>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)

    Correct Rich - but if Labour had been re-elected that effect on rates
    is unknown and the effect on 3-waters would not have been an issue for >elected local body politicians to deal with.
    Labour had talked through structures with international lenders, and
    proposed larger entities than local government, both to share
    expertise and to make them able to borrow at close to government rates
    - they may have been prepared to guarantee repayments. As it is many
    local councils are unable to undertake any work - and Queenstown
    continues to have water quality problems . . .
    I suspect ActNat1st will find they have to move towards a similar
    structure - we just do not have enough expertise to cover a lot of
    different entities, and small councils have no-one to even start . .
    .



    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected.

    Pure conjecture on your part, no doubt motivated by your political
    bias. Commitments that are not in the coalition agreements are not >commitments at all

    Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    More political rhetoric from you Rich. You cannot cite anything that
    the Government has done that is not in the coalition agreements.
    Contrast this with Labour as an outright majority in the previous >Parliamentary term legislating for things never mentioned in their
    2020 manifesto. There are many Labour MPs in that government that
    remain in Parliament so hidden agendas are still a risk based on their
    past record.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 20:51:23 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:26:58 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 22:09:08 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>through to rents for rental properties?)

    Correct Rich - but if Labour had been re-elected that effect on rates
    is unknown and the effect on 3-waters would not have been an issue for >>elected local body politicians to deal with.
    Labour had talked through structures with international lenders, and
    proposed larger entities than local government, both to share
    expertise and to make them able to borrow at close to government rates
    - they may have been prepared to guarantee repayments. As it is many
    local councils are unable to undertake any work - and Queenstown
    continues to have water quality problems . . .
    I suspect ActNat1st will find they have to move towards a similar
    structure - we just do not have enough expertise to cover a lot of
    different entities, and small councils have no-one to even start . .
    .

    You continue to advance this viewpoint, long debunked in its removal
    of democratic fairness and total lack of local accountability.

    You are too wedded to your political rhetoric to admit that the
    current Government may have found a better and more locally equitable
    way to deal with this.


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>families and medical people affected.

    Pure conjecture on your part, no doubt motivated by your political
    bias. Commitments that are not in the coalition agreements are not >>commitments at all

    Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    More political rhetoric from you Rich. You cannot cite anything that
    the Government has done that is not in the coalition agreements.
    Contrast this with Labour as an outright majority in the previous >>Parliamentary term legislating for things never mentioned in their
    2020 manifesto. There are many Labour MPs in that government that
    remain in Parliament so hidden agendas are still a risk based on their
    past record.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 20:15:58 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 17:01:15 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 15:04:59 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First
    Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies
    which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and
    midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I acknowledge that many would interpret 'access to 13 more cancer
    treatments' as providing additional funding for cancer drugs not
    currently funded. However I took this to mean that this commitment
    was a reference to Cancer treatments (not drugs) in the context of
    reducing waiting times for cancer treatments.
    It was related to 13 different treatments that Pharmac does not
    currently cover - and yes that will be represented largely by drugs to
    provide treatments not currently available - from memory one patient
    was quoted $160,000 a year if they wished to pay for it themselves.
    Pharmac has good processes for keeping prices low, and part of that
    depends on being able to negotiate with different suppliers in such a
    way that overall cost is minimised. It is not helpful to Pharmac to be
    put in a position where their ability to negotiate is driven by public clamouring and political promises - if the drug companies think the
    government is desperate they will charge more!

    There are a wide range of treatments being developed - the work being
    done by the Malaghan Institute is only one but it is one we know a
    little about.


    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to Gordon on Sun Jun 2 20:06:52 2024
    On 2 Jun 2024 01:56:09 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-06-01, Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords
    - not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>a copy is here: >>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many
    financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind
    the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small
    reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised
    but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is
    not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the
    election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting
    projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ
    Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the
    budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    And that no doubt will be the National's fault.
    Of course it will not be - you may want to criticise the government
    for a lot of things, but they are not making storms and flooding
    events . . .

    Disaters happen, some natural, and it is the expectation that the rest the >country will help out via the Govenment giving assistance. We need to keep
    on making this country better without being consumed by the thought of the >next disaster.
    Prudent planning is however appropriate. There was a good review of
    emergency services; part of expectations is that some of those will be
    fixed (phone service being one that may remain difficult in some
    areas), but that the government will also have worked through policy
    responses regarding assistance across a range of circumstances. I
    expect that some of that work has already been done. I agree that we
    do not need to be consumed by thoughts of disasters, but we do need to understand that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 20:23:38 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 19:52:55 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On 2 Jun 2024 01:47:00 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-06-01, Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 1 Jun 2024 16:59:56 +1200, David Goodwin >>><[email protected]> wrote:

    In article <[email protected]>, mutley2000 >>>>@hotmail.com says...

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>> >wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>> >>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>> >>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>> >>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>> >>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>> >>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>> >>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>> >>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>> >>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring
    stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the
    Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This
    country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>> >>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>> >>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be
    apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>
    Fuck Rich. What handouts to landlords?? This government just
    returned things to what they were before your lot got all communist >>>>> over landlords.

    I'm not sure how making interest not tax deducible is in any way >>>>communist. Its not like the Government tried nationalise land ownership >>>>or something.

    The word "communist" has an actual meaning. Referring to anything you >>>>don't like or anything on the left side of the spectrum as communist >>>>devalues that meaning.

    Exempting houses owned by landlords from capital gains tax is a
    significant bias towards such investments that does not apply to other
    organisations who own property as part of their business operations.
    Not allowing a tax deduction for interest on loans was a crude attempt
    to balance matters that did not totally address the bias against
    investment in other enterprises, but NAct1st have now restored the
    blatant bias in favour of landlords - with the Prime Minister
    personally benefiting, even though with only 7 properties he is far
    from being the largest beneficiary. See if you can find any other
    country that taxes capital gains exempting landlords from that tax . .
    .
    The matter under discussion is one of being able to claim the cost of >>interest on properties that they own.

    It is inconsistant to not allow for this cost as it is a a cost to the >>business and all businesses are allowed to deduct the costs of doing >>business. It has been this way for eons and to have a ramdom exception it is >>muddling the waters.

    If you consider that the landords are making too much profit then we/you/us >>need to find another way to allow for the landlords to pay more tax.

    I don't want to limit anyone's investment income or profit, but all >investments should be taxed on a consistent basis.

    Then why do you consider the prohibition on interest costs for
    residential landlords was fair? Hint - it was imposed by a Labour
    government.
    \
    The "brightline
    test" effectively means that landlords can easily manage their affairs
    to avid paying tax on all capital gains.

    As can everyone else. Why single out landlords?

    I merely believe that tax on
    investments should be on the same basis for all investors.

    Why single out 'landlords' (ie property investors)?

    As it is,
    we see a flood of money going into rental housing making it harder for >non-investors to own their own home, and immigration feeding a
    shortage of houses. Despite the previous government making the biggest >increase in housing since the 1930's, we are still short, and rents
    are historically high - and at the same time small companies find it
    harder than they should to attract equity capital. So yes the "other
    way" you speak of is to tax these investment properties on the same
    basis as other investments - if a capital gain is realised, it should
    be taxable. If it is good enough for capital gains realised on
    investments backing Kiwisaver to be taxed, why not investments by
    landlords?

    Capital gains is taxed - where capital gains is adjudged as a
    deliberate motivation to invest, the capital gain is taxed as income.
    The 'bright line' test is exactly that - it prescribes intent and
    defines capital gain as income for tax purposes.

    Rich you have had this pointed out many times over the years and have
    never been able to properly refute that capital gains is taxed as
    income - you simply fall back on political rhetoric that we do not
    have a capital gains tax ignoring that in specific circumstances
    capital gain is taxed as income.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 21:54:40 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:15:58 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 17:01:15 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 15:04:59 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government. >>>>>>>>>
    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . . >>>>>
    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>>through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight >>>>>of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's >>>>>commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality >>>>>is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that >>>>this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First >>>Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies >>>which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and >>>midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I acknowledge that many would interpret 'access to 13 more cancer >>treatments' as providing additional funding for cancer drugs not
    currently funded. However I took this to mean that this commitment
    was a reference to Cancer treatments (not drugs) in the context of
    reducing waiting times for cancer treatments.
    It was related to 13 different treatments that Pharmac does not
    currently cover - and yes that will be represented largely by drugs to >provide treatments not currently available - from memory one patient
    was quoted $160,000 a year if they wished to pay for it themselves.
    Pharmac has good processes for keeping prices low, and part of that
    depends on being able to negotiate with different suppliers in such a
    way that overall cost is minimised. It is not helpful to Pharmac to be
    put in a position where their ability to negotiate is driven by public >clamouring and political promises - if the drug companies think the >government is desperate they will charge more!

    There are a wide range of treatments being developed - the work being
    done by the Malaghan Institute is only one but it is one we know a
    little about.

    Since writing the above I found this link which sets out the actual
    treatments they promised to fund:

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/21/national-pledges-280m-for-13-cancer-treatments/





    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on >>>>that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have >>>>made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>>families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>>>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business >>>>case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I >>>>understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some >>>>projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 2 21:16:49 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:51:23 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:26:58 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 22:09:08 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government. >>>>>>>>>
    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . . >>>>>
    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>>through to rents for rental properties?)

    Correct Rich - but if Labour had been re-elected that effect on rates
    is unknown and the effect on 3-waters would not have been an issue for >>>elected local body politicians to deal with.
    Labour had talked through structures with international lenders, and >>proposed larger entities than local government, both to share
    expertise and to make them able to borrow at close to government rates
    - they may have been prepared to guarantee repayments. As it is many
    local councils are unable to undertake any work - and Queenstown
    continues to have water quality problems . . .
    I suspect ActNat1st will find they have to move towards a similar
    structure - we just do not have enough expertise to cover a lot of >>different entities, and small councils have no-one to even start . .
    .

    You continue to advance this viewpoint, long debunked in its removal
    of democratic fairness and total lack of local accountability.
    I have not outlined anything that is not essentially similar to
    Wellington Water or Auckland Water in principle - as I understand it
    the only difference would be that Labour would have put some suitable
    Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. Another
    possible difference may be that National privatises the organisations
    and sells shares. What differences did you think there were, Crash?

    You are too wedded to your political rhetoric to admit that the
    current Government may have found a better and more locally equitable
    way to deal with this.
    Lowering costs by enabling borrowing to be cheaper than can be raised
    by local authorities makes economic sense - I have covered governance differences above in composition of the Board of each entity - lower
    costs seem desirable to me, and involving Maori in governance does not
    seem to have hurt the Waikato and Wanganui River entities.



    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight >>>>>of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's >>>>>commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality >>>>>is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that >>>>this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect >>>>both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on >>>>that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have >>>>made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>>families and medical people affected.

    Pure conjecture on your part, no doubt motivated by your political
    bias. Commitments that are not in the coalition agreements are not >>>commitments at all

    Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business >>>>case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I >>>>understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some >>>>projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    More political rhetoric from you Rich. You cannot cite anything that
    the Government has done that is not in the coalition agreements.
    Contrast this with Labour as an outright majority in the previous >>>Parliamentary term legislating for things never mentioned in their
    2020 manifesto. There are many Labour MPs in that government that
    remain in Parliament so hidden agendas are still a risk based on their >>>past record.

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  • From BR@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 3 05:09:20 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have
    put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
    https://www.avg.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 2 21:14:13 2024
    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have
    put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not accountable to the public.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 3 09:34:51 2024
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:54:40 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:15:58 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 17:01:15 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 15:04:59 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>>>
    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of >>>>>>>>>> taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government. >>>>>>>>>>
    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the
    Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially. >>>>>>>>
    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . . >>>>>>
    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to >>>>>cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>>>through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight >>>>>>of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's >>>>>>commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality >>>>>>is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that >>>>>this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First >>>>Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies >>>>which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and >>>>midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I acknowledge that many would interpret 'access to 13 more cancer >>>treatments' as providing additional funding for cancer drugs not >>>currently funded. However I took this to mean that this commitment
    was a reference to Cancer treatments (not drugs) in the context of >>>reducing waiting times for cancer treatments.
    It was related to 13 different treatments that Pharmac does not
    currently cover - and yes that will be represented largely by drugs to >>provide treatments not currently available - from memory one patient
    was quoted $160,000 a year if they wished to pay for it themselves.
    Pharmac has good processes for keeping prices low, and part of that
    depends on being able to negotiate with different suppliers in such a
    way that overall cost is minimised. It is not helpful to Pharmac to be
    put in a position where their ability to negotiate is driven by public >>clamouring and political promises - if the drug companies think the >>government is desperate they will charge more!

    There are a wide range of treatments being developed - the work being
    done by the Malaghan Institute is only one but it is one we know a
    little about.

    Since writing the above I found this link which sets out the actual >treatments they promised to fund:

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/21/national-pledges-280m-for-13-cancer-treatments/


    Thanks for the detail on that. You seem to think that as National
    made this promise prior to the election it is bound by it when it is
    not. There was a reference you found in the coalition agreement
    between National and NZF but there is no detail there.

    All parties in the current Government had policies that were not
    adopted when the coalition was formed. In this case there was never a commitment of anyone to deliver in this budget - the Government has
    until 2026 to deliver on their coalition agreement commitments.



    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on >>>>>that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they >>>>>forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have >>>>>made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>>>families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>>>>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business >>>>>case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I >>>>>understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . . >>>>>
    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some >>>>>projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of >>>>>storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 2 21:16:05 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 2 Jun 2024 01:56:09 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-06-01, Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion >>>>>>>> is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter >>>>>>>> most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing >>>>>>>> rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of
    taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it >>>>>>>> does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By >>>>>>>> my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not >>>>>>>> happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in >>>>>>>> headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under >>>>>>>> Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction >>>>>>>> to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year >>>>>>>> - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has >>>>>>>> been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring >>>>>>>> stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government.

    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise >>>>>>>the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the >>>>>>>Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially.

    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . .

    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25
    year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to
    cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small
    reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and
    does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow
    through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight
    of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's
    commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality
    is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that
    this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major
    promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the
    election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently. I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on
    that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they
    forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have
    made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the
    reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many
    families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato
    University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business
    case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting
    projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I
    understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ
    Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . .

    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some
    projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the
    budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of
    storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement
    but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural
    disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    And that no doubt will be the National's fault.
    Of course it will not be - you may want to criticise the government
    for a lot of things, but they are not making storms and flooding
    events . . .
    Your problem is that when somebody else uses sarcasm it flies right past your little brain without leaving a mark.

    Disaters happen, some natural, and it is the expectation that the rest the >>country will help out via the Govenment giving assistance. We need to keep >>on making this country better without being consumed by the thought of the >>next disaster.
    Prudent planning is however appropriate. There was a good review of
    emergency services; part of expectations is that some of those will be
    fixed (phone service being one that may remain difficult in some
    areas), but that the government will also have worked through policy >responses regarding assistance across a range of circumstances. I
    expect that some of that work has already been done. I agree that we
    do not need to be consumed by thoughts of disasters, but we do need to >understand that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 11:14:54 2024
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:09:20 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have
    put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.
    I see it as recognition and fulfillment of obligations under Ti Tiriti
    o Waitangi; there is no money involved except potentially saving a lot
    of money which could be required dealing with Court cases - remember
    the problems some years ago under "Foreshore and Seabed" proposals?
    Water is a commodity that is essential to all New Zealanders, and it
    is desirable that all New Zealanders have an assured supply of clean
    water and efficient treatment of wastes - ensuring that different
    perspectives are heard at a governance level fits well with New
    Zealand wide "ownership" - such shared governance only arrangements
    have worked well for some rivers and hydro-power management in some
    parts of New Zealand. The advantage for ratepayers is that they can
    be assured that they are well represented, and that clean and reliable
    supply of water is being given appropriate priority and that the views
    of major groups in our communities are represented.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 3 12:30:42 2024
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 09:34:51 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:54:40 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:15:58 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 17:01:15 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 15:04:59 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>>>>
    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of >>>>>>>>>>> taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of >>>>>>>>>>> that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending >>>>>>>>>>> that produced intangible results of the previous Government. >>>>>>>>>>>
    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the
    Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially. >>>>>>>>>
    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they >>>>>>>>>take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . . >>>>>>>
    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>>>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to >>>>>>cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>>>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>>>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>>>>through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight >>>>>>>of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's >>>>>>>commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality >>>>>>>is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that >>>>>>this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>>>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>>>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First >>>>>Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies >>>>>which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and >>>>>midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I acknowledge that many would interpret 'access to 13 more cancer >>>>treatments' as providing additional funding for cancer drugs not >>>>currently funded. However I took this to mean that this commitment
    was a reference to Cancer treatments (not drugs) in the context of >>>>reducing waiting times for cancer treatments.
    It was related to 13 different treatments that Pharmac does not
    currently cover - and yes that will be represented largely by drugs to >>>provide treatments not currently available - from memory one patient
    was quoted $160,000 a year if they wished to pay for it themselves. >>>Pharmac has good processes for keeping prices low, and part of that >>>depends on being able to negotiate with different suppliers in such a
    way that overall cost is minimised. It is not helpful to Pharmac to be >>>put in a position where their ability to negotiate is driven by public >>>clamouring and political promises - if the drug companies think the >>>government is desperate they will charge more!

    There are a wide range of treatments being developed - the work being >>>done by the Malaghan Institute is only one but it is one we know a
    little about.

    Since writing the above I found this link which sets out the actual >>treatments they promised to fund:
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/21/national-pledges-280m-for-13-cancer-treatments/


    Thanks for the detail on that. You seem to think that as National
    made this promise prior to the election it is bound by it when it is
    not. There was a reference you found in the coalition agreement
    between National and NZF but there is no detail there.

    I do accept that the ACT party is not bound to support National on
    their promise; but it seems that missing this one out was not
    highlighted in subsequent statements from National. Since it was a
    very clear statement so soon before the election, and because some
    current patients would benefit from the drug treatments and will
    likely die without them - at least that is the perception of many -
    the real problem is that neither Luxon or Reti who made that initial
    promise talked about it no longer being supported. It is of course
    possible for National to put forward a bill to fund it with support
    from opposition parties - and some would argue that because it is in
    the National / NZ First agreement they have a duty to seek that
    solution, and that ACT agreed to support policies in the National / NZ
    First agreements as well. There is little detail on most of the issues
    covered in the coalition agreements, but they do indicate that those
    two parties did agree to seek implementation of the policies listed.

    Personally I have no problems with money being spent on purchasing
    through Pharmac, but I am concerned that such public funding is
    contrary to the principle that Pharmac conducts assessments of
    priorities based on medical research into what spending will have the
    most beneficial effect on the health of New Zealanders - to override
    that by political edict both overrides that process and, perhaps more importantly, signals to the suppliers that there is political
    instruction to purchase so they can put their prices up (or not be
    open to volume discounts). That is not in our interests. John Key made
    a similar mistake before he was elected into government but wisely
    never did it again - it is sad to see how short some memories can be .
    . .

    All parties in the current Government had policies that were not
    adopted when the coalition was formed. In this case there was never a >commitment of anyone to deliver in this budget - the Government has
    until 2026 to deliver on their coalition agreement commitments.
    Thanks, and yes I agree, but the politics of this are now being
    responded to by Christopher Luxon and Shane Reti - and after these
    policies were adopted by National and NZ First in their agreement,it
    is up to those two parties to see if they can find additional support
    to get the funding through parliament. A lot of New Zealanders would
    applaud such cross party support for a good cause - and a lot of
    people would applaud the parties for seeking a parliamentary rather
    than political party solution.





    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on >>>>>>that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they >>>>>>forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have >>>>>>made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>>>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>>>>families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>>>>>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business >>>>>>case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>>>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I >>>>>>understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>>>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . . >>>>>>
    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some >>>>>>projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>>>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of >>>>>>storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>>>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>>>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 01:12:43 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:09:20 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.
    I see it as recognition and fulfillment of obligations under Ti Tiriti
    o Waitangi;
    There is no such obligation. Provide evidence.
    there is no money involved except potentially saving a lot
    of money which could be required dealing with Court cases - remember
    the problems some years ago under "Foreshore and Seabed" proposals?
    Water is a commodity that is essential to all New Zealanders, and it
    is desirable that all New Zealanders have an assured supply of clean
    water and efficient treatment of wastes - ensuring that different >perspectives are heard at a governance level fits well with New
    Zealand wide "ownership" - such shared governance only arrangements
    have worked well for some rivers and hydro-power management in some
    parts of New Zealand. The advantage for ratepayers is that they can
    be assured that they are well represented, and that clean and reliable
    supply of water is being given appropriate priority and that the views
    of major groups in our communities are represented.
    Irrelevant.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 01:14:04 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -
    Except that was not what Labour planned. 3 waters had no place for such accountability.
    for the safe and reliable supply of water at the lowest price -
    meeting standards set by government. Now we are seeing our new
    government talking about reducing some of the water quality standards
    to "assist" Queenstown with problems they are having.
    Nonsense.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 12:08:32 2024
    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -
    for the safe and reliable supply of water at the lowest price -
    meeting standards set by government. Now we are seeing our new
    government talking about reducing some of the water quality standards
    to "assist" Queenstown with problems they are having.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 15:21:18 2024
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 01:12:43 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:09:20 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.
    I see it as recognition and fulfillment of obligations under Ti Tiriti
    o Waitangi;
    There is no such obligation. Provide evidence.
    That will be up to those taking a case to the Courts.

    there is no money involved except potentially saving a lot
    of money which could be required dealing with Court cases - remember
    the problems some years ago under "Foreshore and Seabed" proposals?
    Water is a commodity that is essential to all New Zealanders, and it
    is desirable that all New Zealanders have an assured supply of clean
    water and efficient treatment of wastes - ensuring that different >>perspectives are heard at a governance level fits well with New
    Zealand wide "ownership" - such shared governance only arrangements
    have worked well for some rivers and hydro-power management in some
    parts of New Zealand. The advantage for ratepayers is that they can
    be assured that they are well represented, and that clean and reliable >>supply of water is being given appropriate priority and that the views
    of major groups in our communities are represented.
    Irrelevant.

    Not to water users - we don't want another disaster like the
    electricity system that delivers all the risk to purchasers and none
    to shareholders who get large dividends. Already damage is being down
    to equity of health outcomes as increasingly the wealthy get
    operations earlier than those that cannot afford to pay to avoid
    waiting lists at public hospitals.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 15:16:51 2024
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 01:14:04 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>>>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -
    Except that was not what Labour planned. 3 waters had no place for such >accountability.
    What rubbish. You have provided no evidence of that. Contrast the
    publicly owned water structures that Labour was planning with the
    privatised companies that National set up in the electricity market -
    they are responsible to their shareholders, who have paid out as
    dividends more than operating profit, and resulted in high charges for electricity users. The main difference was that the Labour structure
    would have been able to borrow at lower interest rates.


    for the safe and reliable supply of water at the lowest price -
    meeting standards set by government. Now we are seeing our new
    government talking about reducing some of the water quality standards
    to "assist" Queenstown with problems they are having.
    Nonsense.
    Certainly a decision has not been made, but it is being discussed as a realistic way of avoiding the problem Queenstown had last year as it
    continues to grow.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 07:18:27 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 01:12:43 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:09:20 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>>>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.
    I see it as recognition and fulfillment of obligations under Ti Tiriti
    o Waitangi;
    There is no such obligation. Provide evidence.
    That will be up to those taking a case to the Courts.
    So there is no evidence of your silly comment then? ie no obligation.

    there is no money involved except potentially saving a lot
    of money which could be required dealing with Court cases - remember
    the problems some years ago under "Foreshore and Seabed" proposals?
    Water is a commodity that is essential to all New Zealanders, and it
    is desirable that all New Zealanders have an assured supply of clean >>>water and efficient treatment of wastes - ensuring that different >>>perspectives are heard at a governance level fits well with New
    Zealand wide "ownership" - such shared governance only arrangements
    have worked well for some rivers and hydro-power management in some
    parts of New Zealand. The advantage for ratepayers is that they can
    be assured that they are well represented, and that clean and reliable >>>supply of water is being given appropriate priority and that the views
    of major groups in our communities are represented.
    Irrelevant.

    Not to water users - we don't want another disaster like the
    electricity system that delivers all the risk to purchasers and none
    to shareholders who get large dividends. Already damage is being down
    to equity of health outcomes as increasingly the wealthy get
    operations earlier than those that cannot afford to pay to avoid
    waiting lists at public hospitals.
    Wrong - totally irrelevant. The water initiatives are being put in place and you have zero knowledge of how well they will work. The one fact that you will happily acknowledge is that at least they will be managed by ratepayers and not central government through racially selected boards.
    Good eh?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 20:00:39 2024
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 07:18:27 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 01:12:43 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:09:20 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.
    I see it as recognition and fulfillment of obligations under Ti Tiriti >>>>o Waitangi;
    There is no such obligation. Provide evidence.
    That will be up to those taking a case to the Courts.
    So there is no evidence of your silly comment then? ie no obligation.

    there is no money involved except potentially saving a lot
    of money which could be required dealing with Court cases - remember >>>>the problems some years ago under "Foreshore and Seabed" proposals? >>>>Water is a commodity that is essential to all New Zealanders, and it
    is desirable that all New Zealanders have an assured supply of clean >>>>water and efficient treatment of wastes - ensuring that different >>>>perspectives are heard at a governance level fits well with New
    Zealand wide "ownership" - such shared governance only arrangements >>>>have worked well for some rivers and hydro-power management in some >>>>parts of New Zealand. The advantage for ratepayers is that they can
    be assured that they are well represented, and that clean and reliable >>>>supply of water is being given appropriate priority and that the views >>>>of major groups in our communities are represented.
    Irrelevant.

    Not to water users - we don't want another disaster like the
    electricity system that delivers all the risk to purchasers and none
    to shareholders who get large dividends. Already damage is being down
    to equity of health outcomes as increasingly the wealthy get
    operations earlier than those that cannot afford to pay to avoid
    waiting lists at public hospitals.
    Wrong - totally irrelevant. The water initiatives are being put in place and >you have zero knowledge of how well they will work. The one fact that you will >happily acknowledge is that at least they will be managed by ratepayers and not
    central government through racially selected boards.
    Good eh?

    It must be hard for you misunderstanding so much. That does however
    qualify you to support ACT1stNat - in whatever order you want! They
    must all be grateful for your rabid support . . .

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 07:21:22 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 01:14:04 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may >>>>>>not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public - >>Except that was not what Labour planned. 3 waters had no place for such >>accountability.
    What rubbish. You have provided no evidence of that. Contrast the
    publicly owned water structures that Labour was planning with the
    privatised companies that National set up in the electricity market -
    they are responsible to their shareholders, who have paid out as
    dividends more than operating profit, and resulted in high charges for >electricity users. The main difference was that the Labour structure
    would have been able to borrow at lower interest rates.
    You lying prick - Labour wanted 3 waters, a race based system without community say. You know that is true. You are lying numbskull.


    for the safe and reliable supply of water at the lowest price -
    meeting standards set by government. Now we are seeing our new
    government talking about reducing some of the water quality standards
    to "assist" Queenstown with problems they are having.
    Nonsense.
    Certainly a decision has not been made, but it is being discussed as a >realistic way of avoiding the problem Queenstown had last year as it >continues to grow.
    So you are guessing again - or perhaps lying is more accurate. Sheesh do you ever tell the truth?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BR@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jun 4 04:52:17 2024
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
    https://www.avg.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 3 20:27:56 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 07:18:27 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 3 Jun 2024 01:12:43 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 05:09:20 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may >>>>>>>not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?

    Bill.
    I see it as recognition and fulfillment of obligations under Ti Tiriti >>>>>o Waitangi;
    There is no such obligation. Provide evidence.
    That will be up to those taking a case to the Courts.
    So there is no evidence of your silly comment then? ie no obligation.

    there is no money involved except potentially saving a lot
    of money which could be required dealing with Court cases - remember >>>>>the problems some years ago under "Foreshore and Seabed" proposals? >>>>>Water is a commodity that is essential to all New Zealanders, and it >>>>>is desirable that all New Zealanders have an assured supply of clean >>>>>water and efficient treatment of wastes - ensuring that different >>>>>perspectives are heard at a governance level fits well with New >>>>>Zealand wide "ownership" - such shared governance only arrangements >>>>>have worked well for some rivers and hydro-power management in some >>>>>parts of New Zealand. The advantage for ratepayers is that they can >>>>>be assured that they are well represented, and that clean and reliable >>>>>supply of water is being given appropriate priority and that the views >>>>>of major groups in our communities are represented.
    Irrelevant.

    Not to water users - we don't want another disaster like the
    electricity system that delivers all the risk to purchasers and none
    to shareholders who get large dividends. Already damage is being down
    to equity of health outcomes as increasingly the wealthy get
    operations earlier than those that cannot afford to pay to avoid
    waiting lists at public hospitals.
    Wrong - totally irrelevant. The water initiatives are being put in place and >>you have zero knowledge of how well they will work. The one fact that you >>will
    happily acknowledge is that at least they will be managed by ratepayers and >>not
    central government through racially selected boards.
    Good eh?

    It must be hard for you misunderstanding so much. That does however
    qualify you to support ACT1stNat - in whatever order you want! They
    must all be grateful for your rabid support . . .
    NO, the last government was racist to the core and so are you.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 4 01:14:40 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may >>>>>>not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask - it has helped create a
    number of very stable entities that have managed projects to the
    satisfaction of everyone.
    Cite?
    It also supports one of the common views
    from National politicians over the ages that they are a party that
    respects the sanctity of contract
    There is no relevant contract.
    - although some have said that the
    modern party now believes in putting assets in the hands of private >shareholders because the profit motive will result in better results -
    as we have seen with the electricity generation companies. all that
    has happened is that they collectively limit development so they can
    operate close to capacity to keep prices high, and distribute more
    than profit to shareholders as dividends. Court costs are an expensive
    way of designing management of public entities - far better to have >respectful discussions with interested parties and balancing all the >different needs of our community - sadly ACT in particular want to go
    through the Crash through or Crash process - they may well crash at
    the next election.
    Irrelevant.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 4 12:37:26 2024
    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not. >>>>
    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask - it has helped create a
    number of very stable entities that have managed projects to the
    satisfaction of everyone. It also supports one of the common views
    from National politicians over the ages that they are a party that
    respects the sanctity of contract - although some have said that the
    modern party now believes in putting assets in the hands of private shareholders because the profit motive will result in better results -
    as we have seen with the electricity generation companies. all that
    has happened is that they collectively limit development so they can
    operate close to capacity to keep prices high, and distribute more
    than profit to shareholders as dividends. Court costs are an expensive
    way of designing management of public entities - far better to have
    respectful discussions with interested parties and balancing all the
    different needs of our community - sadly ACT in particular want to go
    through the Crash through or Crash process - they may well crash at
    the next election.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 4 13:52:33 2024
    On Tue, 4 Jun 2024 01:14:40 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may >>>>>>>not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask - it has helped create a >>number of very stable entities that have managed projects to the >>satisfaction of everyone.
    Cite?
    Look back through the thread - there are a number of agreements that
    Chris Finlayson assisted that he was rightly proud of.

    It also supports one of the common views
    from National politicians over the ages that they are a party that >>respects the sanctity of contract
    There is no relevant contract.
    Of course there is - initially the contract was with the Crown, but responsibilities were vested in the government of New Zealand through legislation made New Zealand into an independent State (albeit still recognising the Crown).

    - although some have said that the
    modern party now believes in putting assets in the hands of private >>shareholders because the profit motive will result in better results -
    as we have seen with the electricity generation companies. all that
    has happened is that they collectively limit development so they can >>operate close to capacity to keep prices high, and distribute more
    than profit to shareholders as dividends. Court costs are an expensive
    way of designing management of public entities - far better to have >>respectful discussions with interested parties and balancing all the >>different needs of our community - sadly ACT in particular want to go >>through the Crash through or Crash process - they may well crash at
    the next election.
    Irrelevant.
    At least you do not deny the above, Tony.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tony@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 4 07:25:21 2024
    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Tue, 4 Jun 2024 01:14:40 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rich80105 <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony >>>>><[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may >>>>>>>>not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask - it has helped create a >>>number of very stable entities that have managed projects to the >>>satisfaction of everyone.
    Cite?
    Look back through the thread - there are a number of agreements that
    Chris Finlayson assisted that he was rightly proud of.
    Don't change the subject. There is no agreement that is relevant tpo your claim.

    It also supports one of the common views
    from National politicians over the ages that they are a party that >>>respects the sanctity of contract
    There is no relevant contract.
    Of course there is - initially the contract was with the Crown, but >responsibilities were vested in the government of New Zealand through >legislation made New Zealand into an independent State (albeit still >recognising the Crown).
    No there is no relevant contract. Which mythical one are you referring to?

    - although some have said that the
    modern party now believes in putting assets in the hands of private >>>shareholders because the profit motive will result in better results -
    as we have seen with the electricity generation companies. all that
    has happened is that they collectively limit development so they can >>>operate close to capacity to keep prices high, and distribute more
    than profit to shareholders as dividends. Court costs are an expensive >>>way of designing management of public entities - far better to have >>>respectful discussions with interested parties and balancing all the >>>different needs of our community - sadly ACT in particular want to go >>>through the Crash through or Crash process - they may well crash at
    the next election.
    Irrelevant.
    At least you do not deny the above, Tony.
    No interest in that nonsense.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BR@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 5 17:46:07 2024
    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:37:26 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask

    Why would I ask Finlayson? Does he speak for you?

    Bill

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
    https://www.avg.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 5 22:13:13 2024
    On Wed, 05 Jun 2024 17:46:07 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:37:26 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask

    Why would I ask Finlayson? Does he speak for you?

    Bill
    He has explained it well - there are plenty of articles featuring him
    being rightly proud of having carried on the tradition of previous
    Treaty Settlement ministers from both Labour and National, but I think
    he was involved in the Waikato River arrangements that delivered
    additional water to Auckland without any fuss or rancour.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BR@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 6 17:35:47 2024
    On Wed, 05 Jun 2024 22:13:13 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Wed, 05 Jun 2024 17:46:07 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:37:26 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 04:52:17 +1200, BR <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:08:32 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Jun 2024 21:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Tony >>>>><[email protected]> wrote:

    BR <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:16:49 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>>wrote:

    as I understand it the only difference would be that Labour would have >>>>>>>>put some suitable Maori appointees on the Board, whereas National may not.

    Why must they be Maori?

    What is the advantage in that for the ratepayers?
    Or indeed for Maori?

    Having said that, the Labour plan was to appoint boards that were not >>>>>>accountable to the public.

    Of course any water organisation would be responsible to the public -

    What has appointing people of one particular race got to do with any
    of that?

    Bill.

    Chris Finlayson is probably the person to ask

    Why would I ask Finlayson? Does he speak for you?

    Bill
    He has explained it well - there are plenty of articles featuring him
    being rightly proud of having carried on the tradition of previous
    Treaty Settlement ministers from both Labour and National, but I think
    he was involved in the Waikato River arrangements that delivered
    additional water to Auckland without any fuss or rancour.

    That was an answer to a question that wasn't asked, and it wasn't even
    your own answer.

    Is that the best you can do?

    Pitiful.

    Bill.

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  • From Rich80105@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 6 18:12:16 2024
    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:30:42 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 09:34:51 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:54:40 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 20:15:58 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 17:01:15 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>wrote:

    On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 15:04:59 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 17:39:14 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>wrote:

    On Sat, 01 Jun 2024 08:59:53 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 22:38:04 +1200, Rich80105 <[email protected]> >>>>>>>>wrote:

    On Fri, 31 May 2024 17:53:44 +1200, Crash <[email protected]d> >>>>>>>>>wrote:

    On 31 May 2024 03:27:58 GMT, Gordon <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>>>>>
    On 2024-05-30, Crash <[email protected]d> wrote:
    So Nicola Willis has presented her first budget and it in my opinion
    is generally good but the focus is too little on the areas that matter
    most.

    Income tax has been reduced, but by adjusting thresholds not reducing
    rates. This adjustment is therefore reducing the effect of >>>>>>>>>>>> taxable-income (TI) inflation. While it reduces taxation revenue it
    does not have any permanent effect as TI will continue to increase. By
    my definition a 'tax cut' is a reduction in the rates and this has not
    happened. The reduction in tax revenue is countered by a reduction in
    headcount costs in the Civil Service.

    Government Debt remains a problem. It increased substantially under
    Labour but the Government has not given any indication that reduction
    to pre-Covid levels is a priority. Just take a look at the cost of
    that debt - if I recall correctly it is currently $9 billion per year
    - to me this is an eye-watering cost given that much of this debt has
    been spent on Covid and Health costs rather than building or acquiring
    stuff that future generations will benefit from.

    So, overall, a timid budget, but better than the pointless spending
    that produced intangible results of the previous Government. >>>>>>>>>>>>
    When the patient is injured severly it is often best to just to stablise the
    patient first and allow the patient to get onto a stable base before >>>>>>>>>>>starting the recovery procedure.

    With Government Debt still substantially increasing and with deficit >>>>>>>>>>spending for the next few years, stability is some way off and the >>>>>>>>>>triaging to date is enough to avoid death but not enough to bring >>>>>>>>>>stability.

    Point another way, the Goverment does not want to rock the boat, or the
    Government wishes to bring the people along with them. This >>>>>>>>>>>country of ours is not exactly stable finanically, or socially. >>>>>>>>>>
    National also lacks a bit of fiscal courage. Probably because if they
    take a more austere approach (such as leaving tax bracket adjustment >>>>>>>>>>to a future budget and paying down debt) the results may not be >>>>>>>>>>apparent until after the next election.

    I suspect the Government regret the cost of the handouts to landlords >>>>>>>>>- not meeting the promise on cancer drugs will already be hurting. >>>>>>>>>Matthew Hooten's comments in a Herald column are behind a paywall, but >>>>>>>>>a copy is here: >>>>>>>>>https://x.com/rugbyintel/status/1796243615204913552/photo/1

    We are still experiencing Covid problems, and are likely to have >>>>>>>>>further storm / flooding damage, and water problems will come back >>>>>>>>>again when increasing rates by 10% to 15% is found to be not enough. >>>>>>>>>Not an easy time to be learning about being a Finance Minister . . . >>>>>>>>
    You are correct Rich - it is not easy having to reverse so many >>>>>>>>financial failures unleashed on us by the previous Government. The >>>>>>>>3-waters establishment costs alone (over $1 billion, cites all behind >>>>>>>>the Herald paywall) would have come real handy with expanding Pharmac >>>>>>>>funding.
    Hooten points out that not only is Willis spending more in the 2024/25 >>>>>>>year than Robertson/Willis combined did for 2023/24, she has had to >>>>>>>cut back on tax cuts that were planned. For most people, the small >>>>>>>reduction in income tax will be well offset by increases in rates (and >>>>>>>does anyone know of anyone that is saying those costs will not flow >>>>>>>through to rents for rental properties?)


    In terms of National party promises, what people seem to loose sight >>>>>>>>of is that this is not a National Government and therefore it is the >>>>>>>>coalition agreements, not the party promises, that are in play. The >>>>>>>>coalition agreements all contain aspects of what each party promised >>>>>>>>but not all of them. The promise to fund additional cancer drugs is >>>>>>>>not in either coalition agreement, so was one of National's >>>>>>>>commitments that Act and NZF would not agree to. The tragic reality >>>>>>>>is that those hoping that more cancer drugs would be funded had their >>>>>>>>hopes dashed by the coalition agreements, not the budget.

    Thanks Crash, yes while I haven;t looked I think you are right that >>>>>>>this was not in the Coalition agreements. This was however a major >>>>>>>promise, and from memory it was a strong commitment made late in the >>>>>>>election campaign, and discussed quite often subsequently.

    It seems I should have checked, it is in the National / NZ First >>>>>>Agreement, but not in the ACT / National agreement:
    "11. The Parties will also progress the following additional policies >>>>>>which are a priority for the National Party:

    F. Cut health waiting times by training more doctors, nurses, and >>>>>>midwives, and giving Kiwis access to 13 more cancer treatments."


    I acknowledge that many would interpret 'access to 13 more cancer >>>>>treatments' as providing additional funding for cancer drugs not >>>>>currently funded. However I took this to mean that this commitment >>>>>was a reference to Cancer treatments (not drugs) in the context of >>>>>reducing waiting times for cancer treatments.
    It was related to 13 different treatments that Pharmac does not >>>>currently cover - and yes that will be represented largely by drugs to >>>>provide treatments not currently available - from memory one patient >>>>was quoted $160,000 a year if they wished to pay for it themselves. >>>>Pharmac has good processes for keeping prices low, and part of that >>>>depends on being able to negotiate with different suppliers in such a >>>>way that overall cost is minimised. It is not helpful to Pharmac to be >>>>put in a position where their ability to negotiate is driven by public >>>>clamouring and political promises - if the drug companies think the >>>>government is desperate they will charge more!

    There are a wide range of treatments being developed - the work being >>>>done by the Malaghan Institute is only one but it is one we know a >>>>little about.

    Since writing the above I found this link which sets out the actual >>>treatments they promised to fund:
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/21/national-pledges-280m-for-13-cancer-treatments/


    Thanks for the detail on that. You seem to think that as National
    made this promise prior to the election it is bound by it when it is
    not. There was a reference you found in the coalition agreement
    between National and NZF but there is no detail there.

    I do accept that the ACT party is not bound to support National on
    their promise; but it seems that missing this one out was not
    highlighted in subsequent statements from National. Since it was a
    very clear statement so soon before the election, and because some
    current patients would benefit from the drug treatments and will
    likely die without them - at least that is the perception of many -
    the real problem is that neither Luxon or Reti who made that initial
    promise talked about it no longer being supported. It is of course
    possible for National to put forward a bill to fund it with support
    from opposition parties - and some would argue that because it is in
    the National / NZ First agreement they have a duty to seek that
    solution, and that ACT agreed to support policies in the National / NZ
    First agreements as well. There is little detail on most of the issues >covered in the coalition agreements, but they do indicate that those
    two parties did agree to seek implementation of the policies listed.

    Personally I have no problems with money being spent on purchasing
    through Pharmac, but I am concerned that such public funding is
    contrary to the principle that Pharmac conducts assessments of
    priorities based on medical research into what spending will have the
    most beneficial effect on the health of New Zealanders - to override
    that by political edict both overrides that process and, perhaps more >importantly, signals to the suppliers that there is political
    instruction to purchase so they can put their prices up (or not be
    open to volume discounts). That is not in our interests. John Key made
    a similar mistake before he was elected into government but wisely
    never did it again - it is sad to see how short some memories can be .
    . .

    All parties in the current Government had policies that were not
    adopted when the coalition was formed. In this case there was never a >>commitment of anyone to deliver in this budget - the Government has
    until 2026 to deliver on their coalition agreement commitments.
    Thanks, and yes I agree, but the politics of this are now being
    responded to by Christopher Luxon and Shane Reti - and after these
    policies were adopted by National and NZ First in their agreement,it
    is up to those two parties to see if they can find additional support
    to get the funding through parliament. A lot of New Zealanders would
    applaud such cross party support for a good cause - and a lot of
    people would applaud the parties for seeking a parliamentary rather
    than political party solution.





    I suspect
    both Luxon and Willis thought that they would be able to deliver on >>>>>>>that promise until late in the Budget process, and it seems they >>>>>>>forgot to go into damage control when they found that it would have >>>>>>>made their borrowing for tax cuts even more obvious. Certainly the >>>>>>>reaction to it not being included suggested that was news to many >>>>>>>families and medical people affected. Put together with the Waikato >>>>>>>University Medical School having to go back for a detailed business >>>>>>>case before it is approved, National are not doing too well in getting >>>>>>>projects past Seymour. They are all a happy family though - I >>>>>>>understand two of Luxons staffers have previously worked for the NZ >>>>>>>Taxpayer Union, and Willis was on the Board of the NZ Initiative . . . >>>>>>>
    At some point. the coalition parties will have to agree on some >>>>>>>projects that are needed that were not anticipated in for example the >>>>>>>budget - I suspect we are not well prepared for another round of >>>>>>>storms / floods / earthquakes. They are not in the coalition agreement >>>>>>>but New Zealanders will expect some help in the event of a natural >>>>>>>disaster that makes some existing houses not able to be replaced . . .

    What a difference a few days make.
    See: https://thespinoff.co.nz/the-bulletin/04-06-2024/five-things-you-might-have-missed-over-the-long-weekend

    The first story has Steven Joyce calling the broken promise to fund 13
    cancer drugs an �inexplicable failure� and a �significant blemish that
    may dog the government�. - and then further negative publicity that
    ignores the coalition agreements: https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/31/despicable-government-wont-fund-promised-cancer-treatments/

    and then pleas from the professions affected such as: https://x.com/StrayDogNZ/status/1797846831302664536

    That last interview is perhaps a little unfair on the government - the
    Cancer specialist is right that there is a process for purchasing the
    medicines - the problem is that the way the government has publicised
    the issue the drugs are not likely to be significantly more expensive
    than if they had followed normal processes, and given that the
    government has led itself into increased borrowing with potentially
    lower productivity and ability to pay, NZ may be in danger of having
    our credit rating reduced - purchasing these drugs may actually come
    back to bite the government (and New Zealanders) in other ways.

    Meanwhile, Shane Reti has now promised some very good improvements to
    processes that will allow GP's to order some tests - that will save
    time, and by a total co-incidence I am sure, may also assist private
    health providers with a bit more work at government expense,
    particularly in one area where I understand that Dr Reti himself has
    some financial interests - all totally above board I am sure . . .

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