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Cindy's avatar

Well ... your argument about "vested interests" seems to have been supported by some of the comments here in opposition to any wealth or capital gains tax! 😮 Obviously if the current coalition are being truthful and there is not enough tax income to adequately support our Health, Education, Welfare etc. budgets, something has to change. About time everyone put the good of the people over their own selfish need for more & more $$$ in their personal grasp. I'm not convinced about the argument for losing significant investors - a significant number are here for more than the tax system surely, and what about the thousands of potential workers who are fleeing overseas for work right now? Human capital flight is much more consequential to our future IMHO 🤷🏾‍♀️

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Mike Friend's avatar

You make the mistake of assuming that Labour is anything other than a soft centrist party, hog-tied by the expediency of attempting to draw voters across from the right who for the most part are self-centered and change allegiances based on what any particular government is offering them as the plat du jour. The 2nd Ardern administration offered safety from a pandemic and was successful on those terms alone, whilst the troika under National promised tax cuts. The problem for the left in New Zealand is two fold firstly we dont have Compulsory voting. Secondly and of much more concern is that our media, across every platform is driven by right wing interests. It is virtually impossible to generate sustained positive news copy for anything that is remotely seen as socialist. Even when policies such as raising personal tax threshold for high earners to something comparable with Scandinavian or some European countries and introducing a CGTwould benefit the majority of Kiwi citizens.

I cannot think of any mass publication, TV news channel, or radio program in New Zealand that consistently provides a daily narrative that challenges the existing orthodoxy. We currently have the most appalling right-wing government lead by two outlier Parties introducing some of the most rabidly dangerous and destablising agendas with huge fiscal and social implications that if the Left was in power and had introduced them would have the likes of Tova O'Brian, Heather Du Plessis Allan, The Platform, Barry Soper, Jenna Lynch, NewsZB et al climbing up the wall with outrage and indignation. The fact that a character such as David Seymour has the gall to lecture the public on issues of democracy and can get away with this, with barely a murmur from the media, tells me everything I need to know about the crooked nature of constructed consent in Aotearoa.

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