Forgive
me not getting excited about a budget that puts more money into the
surveillance state, an extra $6.65 million to IRD audit year on year (** see update 1 below); provides for
thin capitalisation rules to make it more expensive, thus less likely, for
foreign investment doing business here; and a future tenuous government surplus
– we’re still accruing debt in the meantime - based only on a tax take increasing at a higher rate than GDP growth.
Core tax revenue is forecast at
$62.4 billion, or 27.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2014, rising to
$72.8 billion, or 28.3 percent in 2017 as the economy grows. Growth in tax revenue is expected to
strongly outpace forecast nominal GDP growth over the forecast horizon, with
all tax types picked to rise, especially tax from employees, the Treasury
estimates.
I
put it to the Minister of Finance that GDP growth is being constrained by the
increasing tax take. Imagine a country where the reverse would be true: a lower
tax take allowing faster GDP growth, and so higher living standards for all of us. That would be a classical liberal country
moving toward the freer society, rather than the road to the planned economy,
based on tax slavery, that this budget promises, as with every Bill English budget that has talked up spending constraint, but never spending cuts, and has seen a higher government dollar spend still in each successive budget as the size of state grows under the political party standing for small government.
Mind
you, looking at the opposition benches, it could be so much worse from 2014:
When
Labour quite possibly take over the chains to our lives from 2014, yes, doing
business in New Zealand won't look like an attractive option for foreign
investment, and we'll all be the poorer for it. Plus David ought to be careful tweeting to Deloitte's like that: he's scaring the horses again.
Though in the meantime, only more statism to be seen here, move along
please ...
Update 1:
Stop press: the surveillance state grew a whole lot more, by the looks of it, than is admitted in the announced $6.65 million figure …
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