Bainimarama hails 'change of stance' by Key | Stuff.co.nz

Bainimarama hails 'change of stance' by Key Stuff.co.nz
Welcome change of stance enhances relations with Fiji. Looks like relations with Fiji are warming. This will be good news for the ordinary Fijian citizen.

Harawira email - more venom from Maori Party MP

Harawira email swore at bureaucrats Stuff.co.nz more bullyboy tactics from the MP for Tai Tokerau. Is there more than a hint of predetermining the outcome re the flag?

The Brash Report

The government invested into the 2025 Taskforce. As a centrist, who is sceptical about a purist market approach delivering good social policy outcomes, readers will not be surprised that I have reservations about certain aspects of the Taskforce prescription. However, when an effort has been made to address New Zealand’s deep-seated problems I am inclined to the view that it’s worth giving it proper consideration.

Certain aspects of the Taskforce prescription are worth exploring further:

• The relative decline in New Zealand’s GDP per capita is not well understood by the public – it needs to be;

• The substantial increase in government spending since 2005 is unsustainable and needs to be curbed is a useful observation but needs to be considered in the context of the global recession of 2009.

• The trebling of subsidies for early childhood education and day care is also worthy of evaluation to see whether such expenditure is getting the benefits expected of it.

• Reforming the welfare system to curb abuses is also going to be important over the next decade.

• Ensuring that our income and company tax rates are competitive with Australia, the UK and other competitors for kiwi talent is important.

There are, however, other parts of the report that appear to lack sufficient analysis:

• The attribution of New Zealand’s decline in economic performance to “the impact of the protectionist regime put in place in the 1930s” is questionable given that our best economic performance occurred in the 1950s and 1960s under such policies;

• There is little in the way of consideration of how new research, science and technology can help drive faster growth rates and diversity in our economy.

• As most business people will tell you selling assets is not a very well thought through strategy for long term economic prosperity. Raising productivity and skill levels – together with NZ-based research capacity is likely to deliver longer term gains for the country’s prosperity.

2010 represents a year of opportunity for the government to introduce overdue economic reforms. The studies it has commissioned in 2009 will offer a useful base of work from which to consider remedies for New Zealand’s economic ailments. Social policy considerations - such as social cohesion- will have their place alongside economic goals in any intelligent programme of reform in 2010.

Lessons From Timor-Leste: Time To Reform International Financial System?

Unlike nearly any other nation in the underdeveloped world, Timor-Leste has refused to borrow money from the international community.

At this year’s donors meeting in May, the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, spelled out his Government’s position: “We are not ideologically opposed to borrowing money. But we are opposed to unsustainable borrowing”. These are wise words. A paper by the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM) says that

 

“Despite the nations of the South having abundant natural and human resources, the burden of debt for larger developing nations has restricted their development, for smaller nations, it has suffocated it altogether. In 2000, the UNDP and UNICEF calculated that $80 billion a year for ten years would be enough to ensure that the entire population of the world had basic services such as decent food, access to drinking-water, primary education and access to basic health care. Yet in 2001 alone, developing countries spent $382 billion on debt repayments.

 

In general, indebtedness remains one of the biggest barriers to developing countries’ effort to build strong domestic economies and improve the living standards of their citizens.

 

“For every $1 owed in 1980, developing countries have since repaid $7.50 but still owe $4.

This is a massive transfer of resources from the South to the North that renders international institutions’ talk about “poverty reduction” and achieving “Millennium Development Goals” meaningless. http://www.cadtm.org/Avoiding-Indebtedness-and

In addition to the perpetual merry-go-round of debt that developing countries find themselves trapped in there are also some apparent internal contradictions which impact developed nations and which seem incapable of resolution under existing policy settings:

• The never ending battle by all nations to achieve a balance of payments surplus – despite the fact that by definition half the countries are likely to remain in deficit simply because someone has to import more than they export so that the others can export more than they import. New Zealand and other smaller economies have suffered from this more than most.  
• As labour-saving technology enables the production of much greater volumes of goods and services with fewer labour hours how will the increased volume of production be consumed unless purchasing power (not directly linked to labour hours) is also increased commensurately?
• As technology is used to increase productivity and national income it should be possible to reduce – rather than increase - the number of hours worked. France which has adopted a shorter working week is leading the way in productivity growth. Perhaps there are some lessons to be learned from such innovative social policy?

 We should at least have the debate.

http://www.centristcomment.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Key Reasons To Support Income Splitting

The Minister of Revenue's recent announcement that the government will introduce a Bill into Parliament in 2010 to establish Income Splitting is a significant step forwards.  While passage of the Bill beyond Select Committee is not guaranteed it does offer New Zealand parents the opportunity to show their support next year for income splitting. 

We here republish a 2007 article from the Parents Choice 08 blog. 

"Income Splitting is a policy which allows parents to split their household income so that they pay less tax overall. It means that families which choose to have one parent at home caring for their children will have that worked recognised through the tax system as being socially useful. It sends an important signal that parenting is valued.

In brief there are five key reasons to support income splitting. They are:

1. It sends a signal via tax policy that parenting is recognised as valuable. Currently many policies such as subsidisation of child care for parents in paid employment, parental leave for full time employees, and the discrimination against working parents compared to self-employed parents regarding tax treatment, all combine to slant the playing field towards getting parents out of the home and into the workforce. Parents Choice believes that policies to encourage people back to work should not be at the expense of those parents who want to spend time at home with their children - especially during the crucial early years of a child's development.
2. It empowers parents and helps strengthen families. It allows parents to choose whether they will have one parent at home or whether some other work pattern suits them best. Either way parents should make these decisions without government policies pushing them both into the workplace. It should be a parents choice.

3. It builds social capital. Having a greater number of parents choosing to parent fulltime means more opportunities for voluntary and charitable organisations to benefit from having bright, capable and often highly-educated people able and willing to volunteer to work part time in the community or in charitable or religious organisations - all of which is likely to build social capital - the glue that holds society together. Prof. Robert Putnam (author of "Bowling Alone") has provided substantial evidence on the benefits of boosting social capital in a community.

4. It boosts the economy. Income splitting holds the promise of helping strengthen families, strengthen communities and boost social capital. The long term economic cost of weak families, communities and the erosion of social capital is all too apparent when one looks at the cost of family breakdown, juvenile delinquency, vandalism, gang-related activity, crime, distrust and division. If we can go to the core of the social causes of such breakdown then the economic cost savings in police, social work, court time, and broader strengthening of social capital is potentially immense. In any case most economists now agree that the real solution to better economic performance is not in higher labour rate participation or longer working hours but in higher productivity. New Zealand already has one of the highest participation rates in the OECD. The solution is in working smarter not forcing more and more parents to get into the workforce or for those already there to have to spend even more hours at the office.

5. It places the wellbeing of children at the centre of economic and social policies. Good economic and social policies need to ensure that parents and children are kept "front and centre" when designing a sound policy framework. To ignore the development stage of the next generation of human capital is foolish in the extreme. People remain our greatest asset. We need to ensure that all children get off to a good start in life - through both their home life and school life. Income splitting says that the relationship between a parent and child is very important, at least as important as that between an employer and employee, and that our laws should recognise this and allow parents to spend more time with their families."

Parents Choice 08 has passed the torch to other groups to carry on the campaign for income splitting.  Here at Centrist Comment we will continue to provide news and updates on this important social policy innovation. If you want to subscribe to the Centrist Comment blog updates click on "subscribe". 
If you want to join the national mailing list for Parents Choice please contact Roger on rogerellis07@gmail.com

Obama healthcare plan moves a step closer

BBC reports that after a long, often acrimonious debate Senators voted 60 to 40 along party lines to end debate on the health reform bill at 0100 (0600 GMT) on Monday.Four further votes are scheduled this week on the issue before the final Senate vote on Christmas Eve.

Under the Senate bill, most Americans would have to have health insurance. This marks a significant breakthrough to help ensure that Americans can receive the health treatment they need - regardless of whether they are rich or poor. Historically the US health system has been one of the most expensive in the world.  The proliferation of private providers funded by private insurance companies has led to significant waste and duplication.  At the same time many low income Americans have been unable to pay the premiums which are now required to fund this private healthcare monster.

China- Taiwan Trade Talks Begin

China's top negotiator on Taiwan affairs is due to arrive in Taipei for trade talks that some fear could undermine the island's sovereignty the BBC reports.

Ahead of the talks, tens of thousands of protesters rallied against Chen Yunlin's visit.The two governments hope to sign the free-trade pact by early next year.  In recent months there has been a groundswell of support in Taiwan for full independence from China.

O'connor Elected Chair Of Amesbury Drive School

Scoop: O'connor Elected Chair Of Amesbury Drive School story in Scoop News highlighting the progress made by the new Establishment Board of Trustees (of which the writer is a member). The EBOT will be posting updates on its own blog www.amesburydrive.blogspot.com

National Standards - ODT comment

Otago Daily Times makes some good points on the educational national standards issue.  Consider the state of numeracy and literacy, as measured in school leaver statistics published by the Ministry of Education earlier this month for the 2008 year: nearly a fifth failed to achieve even NCEA Level One or above. Is that good enough? 
If one major purpose of the national standards is to identify pupils who are falling behind and provide help to schools to ensure they improve, what sense is there in resisting it?

Time To Change Failed Recipe

Peter's Position blog sees the United Future leader advocating greater use of voluntary and not for profit organisations to help grapple with the thorny social and family issues that have been languishing in the "too hard" basket for decades now.

While there is always the risk that under-resourcing could compound existing social inequalities surely the time has come to try a new approach from the tried and failed framework of centralised government agencies attempting and failing to deal with entrenched failure in education, health, welfare and skills training?

If the challenges of appropriate accountability for public funding and necessary audits can be maintained or made simpler and more effective then perhaps the time has come for a decentralised approach to social service delivery.  Such an approach could work well with the desire by many iwi organisations to take greater autonomy for delivery of services to their own people.

Liberal Democrats Confirm Commitment to Scrap Tuition Fees

http://www.nickclegg.com/2009/12/tuition-fees/ Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats has announced that scrapping tuition fees would remain one of the party’s most important policies.
In a letter to Liberal Democrat members he today he set out a timetable to scrap fees, including those for part-time courses, over the six years following the General Election. The letter in full:
Dear Friend
I’m writing to let you know some good news about the Liberal Democrat manifesto - good news for students and for everyone who wants a fairer Britain. This week the Party’s federal policy committee agreed a way to deliver one of our most important policies, the scrapping of unfair tuition fees. We’ve developed a plan to phase out tuition fees over the course of the next six years, to ensure this vital policy is affordable even at this time of economic crisis.

Slow progress at Copenhagen talks

There have been ongoing protests throughout the two-week conference on climate change in Copenhagen.  Talks remain deadlocked with just two days left to seal a global emissions pact.

Developed and developing nations remain at odds over who should cut emissions, how deep the cuts should be, and how much aid should go to poor countries.

But there has been some progress - wealthy nations pledged new funds to bankroll the war on global warming.   Read the full BBC report at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8417541.stm

Income splitting for tax purposes back in the spotlight

New Zealand families may yet get a choice on how they choose to work and pay tax. United Future leader, Hon Peter Dunne MP has announced the release of an issues paper looking at how income splitting might operate through an annual tax credit.

“Under income splitting, each partner in a relationship with children would be taxed on an equal share of their combined income, Revenue Minister and UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne said today in releasing the issues paper.

The first round of consultation last year sought feedback on what people thought of income splitting, and attracted more than 200 responses, most of them favourable.

“Because income taxes are progressive, with high incomes attracting a higher rate of tax than low incomes, many families might pay less tax, providing some financial assistance when one parent works full-time and the other chooses to stay at home to care for the children,” Mr Dunne said.

“The issues paper proposes having income splitting operate through an annual tax credit, and seeks people’s feedback on how well such a system would work for them,” Mr Dunne said.

“Inland Revenue would calculate the end-of-year tax credit, which would be based on any difference between the tax the couple would pay on an individual basis and the tax they would pay by splitting their income for tax purposes.

“To be eligible for the tax credit, couples would have to be married, civil union partners or de facto partners, be New Zealand residents, and be primarily responsible for the day-to-day care of a dependent child under 18.

“Financial considerations often play a large role in parents deciding whether both should continue to work full-time or one stays home to care for the children,” he said.

“Income splitting is one way of enabling parents to have greater choice in their work and caring roles, and also recognises the valuable role played by parents who choose to opt out of the workforce to raise their children.

“I urge all interested parties to have their say on the workability of the tax credit that is set out in the paper.

“Once we have received the public’s feedback on the details of the proposed mechanism for making income splitting a reality, the next step will be to introduce enabling legislation next year, a move that is provided for in the confidence and supply agreement between UnitedFuture and National,” Mr Dunne said.

The issues paper, “An income splitting tax credit for families with children” is available at www.taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz.

Submissions close on 5 February 2010.

http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/default,1291,dunne_unitedfutures_income_splitting_plans_take_shape.sm

Income-splitting plan gives families a tax break | Stuff.co.nz

Income-splitting plan gives families a tax break Stuff.co.nz
At last some recognition for the work performed by many thousands of parents (mainly women) who choose to invest time and work into raising their own children. Income splitting at least moves towards some recognition of the valuable, yet unpaid work undertaken by hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders year after year.