Capital Gains Tax? Keep related posts in this thread, please.

[Perry]

It is almost purely only an envy tax if it achieves little apart from swaying the control of a portion of capital to the government instead of the free market.

It's a vote catcher aimed at the envious.

Who will have the pill sugared for them; until later when the bitter centre gets to them, as well.

[Wayne]

It's a vote catcher aimed at the envious.

Who will have the pill sugared for them; until later when the bitter centre gets to them, as well.

CGT has, in the past, always been a vote killer not a catcher.

[Perry]

It's a vote catcher aimed at the envious.

Who will have the pill sugared for them; until later when the bitter centre gets to them, as well.

CGT has, in the past, always been a vote killer not a catcher.

In NZ, it has. Labour is a slow learner, though.

But when the 'envious' get numerically large enough to swing an election vote, and can be conned into accepting that a CGT only punishes the well-to-do and be dumb enough to not realise it will be on the thin end of the wedge basis . . .

[Wayne]

In NZ, it has. Labour is a slow learner, though.

Or does things because they think it is the right thing to do rather than just popular like the last lot?

[eri]

i believe 1 of the greatest human failings

is to prefer to be right

than to be effective

https://youtu.be/6QAY0qc0u-4?t=2225

the reason for trump, brexit etc

is not the triumph of the right

but the catastrophic failure of the left

https://youtu.be/6QAY0qc0u-4?t=552

the liberals are illiberal

they are undivese in their calls for diversity

https://youtu.be/6QAY0qc0u-4?t=1803

[Perry]

Or does things because they think it is the right thing to do rather than just popular like the last lot?

Depends on what exactly is "the right thing" and who gets to decide what it is.

[Wayne]

Depends on what exactly is "the right thing" and who gets to decide what it is.

It does Perry.
Who gets to decide - we do every 3 years.
So for 9 years National did what they thought would get them voted in again.
Labour are doing what THEY think is right (rather than slow learners).
And we all get to decide in a few more years.

[Perry]

In general, I agree.

Although we don't have a Labour gummint.

Rather, a sort of loony tunes coalition, the fabric of which is rather patchy and frayed.

As I've already observed, I don't fancy their chance of re-election in 2020.

Any of the present three in the coalition.

[Perry]

Labour are doing what THEY think is right (rather than slow learners).

I probably was too generous. Labour NEVER learn, rather than just be slow learners.

To me, the classic example is cranking up the minimum wage.

To Labour and its supporters, that seems to be the ideal panacea.

But when such increases are forced by legislation, rather than being a consequence of increased productivity, then those labour cost increases 'trickle through' the economy, leaving those who were supposed to benefit even worse off.

Worse off because the gummint gets to 'clip the ticket' on the wage increase (PAYE) as well as the concomitant cost increases via GST.

The way Labour works, the people receiving the minimum wage will soon need a pay day loan just for a meal of fish 'n' chips.

As Maggie T was reported to observe: the problem with socialism is that one eventually runs out of other people's money to spend.

[Perry]

Learn from history? Don't be silly!

Another example of Labour never learning . . .

A CGT is the policy former Prime Minister David Lange said Labour should adopt if it wanted to lose the next election, and the three after that.

While Lange may not have been the font of all wisdom, I suspect that the TWG will have a terminable bout of remember-him-not-amnesia and suggest (indirectly) that Labour lose the next three elections.

Will Comrade Commissar Cullen do that?

We'll see.

[cube]

It does Perry.
Who gets to decide - we do every 3 years.
So for 9 years National did what they thought would get them voted in again.
Labour are doing what THEY think is right (rather than slow learners).
And we all get to decide in a few more years.

By 'we', you mean Winston, I take it?!

[Perry]

Just As Well there's no CGT!
30 July 2018

Victoria University reaped a major windfall from the sale of its unwanted Karori Campus, with a retirement village operator paying millions more than the land's rateable value. Property records revealed that a company controlled by Ryman Healthcare paid $28 million for the site from the university back in December. The rateable value of the land was $20.4m.

Victoria University acquired the title for the site of the Karori Campus in 2015, for a nominal sum of $10, despite the fact that it had been responsible for maintaining the site for a decade. Just over a year later it declared the site as surplus to requirements and put it up for sale.

Probably 'given' to the uni by way of bequest.

But I'll wager the vice-Chancellor is thrilled there's no Labour-grab-CGT on the statute books.

[Perry]

National Party crows as capital gains tax seen to be in doubt
10 Sep 2018

The National Party has been proved right that a capital gains tax makes "no sense" and is not a magic bullet for housing affordability, its finance spokeswoman Amy Adams says. It had been widely expected that the Tax Working Group (TWG) would recommend a broad-based capital gains tax on the likes of sharemarket and property investments as the centrepiece of tax reforms on which Labour would fight the next election.

Who'd have thought it, eh?

The TWG is expected to have rejected the idea of adjusting taxation for inflation because of the complexities involved in applying that across the tax system.

So, Labour Party supporters, as you reap the increase in wages from strikes and minimum wage increases, do also eagerly anticipate some of your income moving in to a higher income tax bracket, so the gummint can take back what it gave away. (loosely speaking)

Cough, choke, sputter, gasp, wheeze . . .

[Perry]

A Too Hot Potato

Property investors: Capital gains tax wouldn't work
11 Sep 2018

Property investors are welcoming news that a capital gains tax is looking increasingly unlikely, but say it probably wouldn't have affected them much anyway. Peter Lewis, said it would have very little impact on him. "I have always bought rental property for income and treated any gain in value as a side-benefit." Lewis said capital gains taxes had not restricted house price inflation in other parts of the world.

"Where a capital gains tax exists but owner-occupied homes have been exempt, housing prices have risen rapidly as people have responded by spending the money they would previously have invested elsewhere on renovating and improving their own homes, secure in the knowledge that when they do sell that particular asset there will be no tax to pay," Lewis said.

As Wayne reported, back here:

A Capital Gains Tax is Not the Answer
Former Prime Minister David Lange is reputed to have described a capital gains tax as the sort of tax you introduce if you want to lose not just this election, but the next three!

[klauster]

How would a CGT work? ... frankly it won't, CGT has not kept house prices down in Aus where there has been a CGT since the late 80's (1986 from memory).

Imagine CGT will work as other taxes do – particularly implementing double dipping; see road tax+ petrol tax + on top GST, local tax/levies plus GST, or

Capitalised housing costs inclusive GST for improvements forced by law and later CGT on increased capital value. There also won’t be any incentives for non-rent deductible improvements, requiring more government force to spend on rental housing.

Tough times for taxpayers who struggle with their own family spending plus coughing up more money for their neighbours in social housing and government spending on homes for undesirable renters.