The Government was told in 2011 by its own Savings Working Group that property investment enjoyed unfair tax advantages over savings, but National has consistently ignored the advice and the housing crisis it has fuelled, the Green Party said today. A new book, Tax and Fairness, out this month says an unfair tax system works in favour of property investors over everyday savers and KiwiSavers. “It’s good that Steven Joyce today recognised the need to tax income fairly but his...

National should follow today’s advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and implement deposit insurance to protect New Zealanders’ savings, the Green Party said. The IMF’s Financial Sector Assessment Programme recommended today that introducing deposit insurance is “the best option” to strengthen the Reserve Bank’s crisis resolution framework. “New Zealand is the only developed country in the world where we can lose our savings if our bank makes a bad decision, and that’s because we don’t have deposit insurance,” Green...

Thousands of heavily-mortgaged first home buyers in Auckland could be hit hard by rising interest rates, thanks to out of control house prices, according to documents released to the Green Party under the Official Information Act. An email from Reserve Bank analysts to senior Beehive staff in January 2017, titled “response to PM’s questions”, highlights a “significant likelihood of financial distress” for people who have recently got mortgages in Auckland, in the event interest rates rise as predicted. “The Prime...

New data shows rising rents are hitting people on modest incomes and beneficiaries in the pocket, while the cost of living for wealthier households is more manageable, the Green Party said today. In the last three months, the cost of living rose 1.4 percent for beneficiaries and 1.3 percent for low expenditure households, compared to just 0.5 percent for high expenditure households, according to the Statistics NZ Household Living Costs Price Index. “Under National, it’s getting harder for people on...

A capital gains tax on property speculators is urgently needed to rebalance the housing market, as the median nationwide house price rose to over half a million dollars today, the Green Party said. “New Zealand under National has become a housing speculator’s paradise, and normal working families are paying the price,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “A capital gains tax (excluding the family home) has to be at the centre of any plan to fix the housing crisis. It’s...

The Government needs to set a clear deadline for when all KiwiSaver providers should have divested from companies involved in the manufacture of cluster bombs, landmines, and nuclear weapons, the Green Party said today. Radio New Zealand today revealed that four default KiwiSaver providers — ANZ, Westpac, Kiwibank, and Mercer — continued to profit from investments in companies involved in the manufacture of cluster bombs, landmines, and nuclear weapons. Jacqui Dean, Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs, expects all KiwiSaver...

The National Government’s research and development (R&D) strategy has failed, with a lower proportion of businesses now engaging in R&D than when they took office, the Green Party said today. The Statistics NZ Business Operations Survey released today shows that in 2009, eight percent of businesses engaged in R&D. In 2016, that number had fallen to seven percent. Labour productivity data also out today tells a similar story, with labour productivity growth at its lowest levels, over the growth cycle,...

Today’s OECD environmental report has highlighted the urgent need for New Zealand to change direction and move to a low carbon, green economy, the Green Party said today. The OECD has said that New Zealand has the second-highest level of emissions per unit of GDP in the developed world. We also have the fifth-highest emissions per capita. “The New Zealand economy is highly carbon intensive and this can’t be sustained if we want to also play our part in addressing...

Today’s disappointing GDP numbers fail to capture what’s really going on in the New Zealand economy and with our day-to-day lives, the Green Party said today. Gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released today by Statistics New Zealand show that the official part of the New Zealand economy grew by 0.4 percent in the December 2016 quarter. Per capita GDP — a better reflection of people’s wellbeing — actually went backwards by 0.2 percent due to population increases. “GDP may be...

The rising cost of living is hitting people who earn modest incomes and beneficiaries hardest, the Green Party said today. Living costs for beneficiaries and low-spending households rose more than twice as much as for high-spending households in 2016, according to Statistics NZ’s Household Living Costs Price Index data. “Bill English says the economy is humming along nicely but the truth is that while people at the top might be doing well, thousands of families on lower incomes are feeling...