Hickey on Goff
Bernard Hickey writes in the Herald:
Floating an idea that you don’t really believe in is never a good idea.
Goff has suggested this lame GST exemption idea, knowing it will be knocked back by any tax policy adviser worth his spreadsheet. It opens loopholes to drive trucks through and would destroy one the last great things left in New Zealand’s tax system – a clean, broad and simple GST.
Goff’s economic ideas are all about veering to the left. They are
- Tax rich pricks more
- Spend more and borrow more
- Destroy the simplicity of GST
- Abandon consensus on monetary policy
I disagree with Goff’s plan to reverse the income tax cuts and simply increase the thresholds. I think he is focusing too much of slicing up the pie than expanding the pie.
Exactly. The tax changes in the budget are about growing the pie. Labour’s sole focus seems to be making sure rich pricks get less of the pie.
Allowing politicians to dictate to central bankers that they should release the inflation lever to inflate away the debts they’d like to run up would be a big mistake in this day and age. Just ask the Americans and the Germans.
Goff’s rhetoric is painfully conflicted. At one moment he is lamenting the government’s various moves to increase taxes and inflation. In the next sentence he wants to relax the Reserve Bank’s focus on controlling inflation and reverse income tax cuts.
Goff appears lost in voteless wilderness, throwing out policies and words that he thinks might be popular, but not really knowing what to believe or having any overarching strategy or new thinking.
I look for any changes to what Labour did last time in Government. All the changes seem to be swings to the left.