this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
15 points (94.1% liked)
NZ Politics
561 readers
1 users here now
Kia ora and welcome to the NZ Politics community!
This is a place for respectful discussions about everything that's political and kiwi
This is an inclusive space where diverse opinions are valued, but please don't be a dick
Banner image by Tom Ackroyd, CC-BY-SA
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It is far from perfect. It's a labour manifesto. If they get in. I've heard plenty from them about fixing housing and yet they refused to change the tax brackets and refused to hold the such accountable.
There was stuff In stuff calculating that you'd save $18 a month. Pretty pathetic. Better than nothing but still very pathetic.
Again, it is a incremental change to add to other changes. It is not a magic bullet solution, and anyone who claims to have such a thing is lying. There is no reason to reject positive change just because it doesn't do everything all at once.
I'm not lying. You are.
Solution is right there. Already laid out. Gst is not the solution. It's really a nothing.
It doesn't do anything at all. It's a nothing. 20 bucks saving maybe if supermarkets don't just raise price.
Government needs to actually do something. Something supermarkets can't then directly charge consumers more for.
So no I wholeheartedly disagree entirely with you
You disagree that something is better than nothing? Because if you look carefully you will see that's what I said. It's not perfect, but it's something. Small steps is how progress happens.
What am I lying about? I never claimed to have a magic bullet solution. I never claimed this would solve all problems.
I disagree that this is anything. No I think it's barely fluff. It's not even meh. Very far from Perfect. I'm pretty sure you'd be hard pressed to find anyone expecting the govt to do anything perfect. But this is just nuts.
No but you claimed nobody can come up with it. Plenty ideas out there. This isn't it
It is a small change, but a positive change nonetheless. GST/VAT free produce has been trialed and found effective in many overseas countries, so it seems plain to me that it would be a good thing here.
Complex social issues are rarely fixable with a single policy, so at least Labour is trying to do something.
GST / VAT has been a beaurecratic nightmare in a number of countries as well.
I've been to many countries where this policy exists, and there has never been an issue that I've seen. But perhaps your experiences trump mine, so let's try something else.
If there are countries where this policy causes no problems, and also ones where there are issues, perhaps the difference comes down to implementation? If so, why are you so quick to dismiss this policy as 'too difficult' and 'fraught with problems' when it does not need to be either of these things? Could it be that you just love to hate on anything Labour does? Or perhaps it is, as I said before, that you (like so many here) will dismiss any change if it does not appear a perfect solution.
Where are these countries where it has been implemented with no issues?
Canada is but one example.
You mean apart from the multiple court cases over GST classifications I linked you to in another thread?
None of which were related to food. No-one is arguing that we want to completely copy the tax code of other countries, or that we want to use implementations that have proven difficult. All they want to do is zero-rate produce. Just that, nothing else. The only example you can find is the one from the UK. I know of one other case in Australia btw. But just because it has happened in a couple of other countries doesn't mean it needs to here. Giving up on positive change because of the slight risk of potential litigation down the road is stupid.
You do understand that this is just one example of the side effects of this, and even in a best case scenario, this will result in more admin costs.
You do understand that, right?
Of course I do. I just disagree with the conclusion to draw from this.
Thank you for implying in stupid because I disagree with you though.
Disagreeing with me is fine, people do it all the time.
Being unable to comprehend the very point I'm making, on the other hand...
I comprehend it just fine. I just think you're wrong.