Absolutely great read from Bernard Hickey on Hipkins’ wealth tax announcement and the treasury report released yesterday:
That’s it. It will now be almost impossible for a wealth or capital gains tax to be implemented within the next decade or two.
The future of Aotearoa’s political economy will now remain frozen in its stagnant, unequal, unjust, unproductive and unhealthy state for the forseeable future. That’s what our leaders, and ultimately the only voters that matter, have decided. Those hoping to change that frozen landscape should now look after themselves and their families, and/or hope and work for an electoral miracle that gives parties who want such taxes dominant positions in any post-election negotiation.
They’re comparable because they’re both applied progressively. Income tax rates scale at higher income points. Wealth tax, inheritance tax, whatever it is. If they’re set to kick in at a certain threshold everyone pays the same amount up to that point - zero.
If only 0.whatever% of the population paid income tax, you’d have a point.