NZ Centre for Political Research

This week's poll asks:

Do you support New Zealand’s top tax rate being raised to 39c?

*Heck no! We have a pretty good household income but we still worry about money constantly. The price of everything is going up and there is always something to pay for, we find it really hard to get ahead and more tax would be a real kick in the guts. KJ

*It is time to leave more money in peoples hands than to let the state waste it. Robert

*A very definite no. Socialist rubbish a Nation can not tax it's self to prosperity. The answer is to reduce the size of Government. Michael

*It's all about contributing fairly. Stop the corporate welfare, and bring in a 15% capital gains tax. we need incentives to move prompltly to efficient use of energy; so make the carbon tax firm at $25/ton of CO2, with all sectors in right away. This is cheaper for consumers than paying subsidies to backward-looking industries. Graeme

*No Way! ....with the ETS parasite sucking on the parent as well, as the GST,our people in this country are paying far to much tax for what they recieve..
If we trimmed our Public service to our real needs, there would be no shortage of funds.Most of the Worlds Politicians do not understand the high importance of moral standards in their work. They shiver when they are confronted on moral issues. Immorality includes missappropriation of funds, and this issue is one of our most dangerous behaviours in our Nations. History tells us, let alone the Bible, that "immorality precedes financial collapse"...but very few deal with it ...that's why the Nations are raging and being shaken right now.
"The Governments have killed the Mongoose that was protecting them from the Python".
NZ's way to propserity, is to cultivate our mineral and Gas resources, and developing our great fishing fields.
The resources we need are put there for us, not for those yet to come.The world will chasnge in the generation to come and they will not be needed then. If we don't move on this now,in time it will be too late. With all the corruption in the earth, the earth will not go on as it is,i.e. for another two generations...There is a New World Coming, and the Greens will not bring it...its supernatural. So
No increase of Tax is necessary right now, only the higher efficiency of what we already have.
I think the rot is so deep in beauracracy, that we may need to sack all the public servants, and rehire those we need. Lets begin again on a clean slate ..But the question is, "who has the power to do that?" Max

*There will always be ways for high income earners to limit the amount of tax they pay, even since the so-called "Hooper and Penny" judgement. More tax will lead to less business investment, which means less jobs. P.S.: Isn't the Rugby World Cup a wonderful diversion for much of the country from the important issues facing our country, such as the general election and MMP referendum? Laurence

*Labour pulling the revolving door policy in plain view again. Wayne

*Let's live within our means as a nation as we have to do in our households. Let's take a critical look at the way the nation spends its money. Are the millions or billions put into welfare the best way of helping the people receiving the money? Putting a halt to the never ending payment to Maori groups would also help our cash flow. And if we are short of cash why are we sending millions to the United Nations? Denis

*Increasing Tax to hand out money to the cadgers is not the answer. We need more workers contributing taxes. Peter

*Stop paying able bodied people to sit on thier arses all day, stop paying people with self induced "illnesses", and stop paying useless slags who are producing the next generation of losers. Murray

*Socialistic command and control economies do not work. I would like to see the Greens out of Parl. as NZF.did last election.
What is so magical about the 39c. in the dollar, Labour? You deserve to lose the election with all this taxing rot! Monica

*Time for NZ and our pig-at-the-trough parliamentary BENEFICIARIES to wake up and smell the coffee (the stuff they actually paid for...yeah, right).

NZ tax payers want a ZERO income tax and a consumption tax (AKA GST) that is at a rate which encourages saving. Say 20% GST?

Then, when anyone spends money (parliamentary-beneficiaries, joe-public, businesses, tourists etc) they pay some part of the MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR MP BENEFIT bill.

As a certain beer brand would say "Yeah, right".

Nice to think of ZERO income tax though. Mark

This week's poll asks:

Do you support New Zealand’s top tax rate being raised to 39c?

*Raising the tax rate to 39cents hits the ordinary hard working Kiwis who are already struggling to keep abreast of the rapidly rising living costs. Why don't we tax all those whose taxable incomes are over $100,000 pa. 99 cents in the dollar for every dollar earned over $100,000. No one needs more than $100,000 per year to live on! That'll make the politicians pay their fair share of tax, instead of living in LaLa land and ignoring the state of the country we have to endure thru their mis-management! Jean

*I am not "rich" but I do understand that increasing the top tax rates won't work. Who do you think it is that employs people? Well the news is, that it isn't those who are broke!!! What a revelation that must be to some. Money makes the world go round and if everyone made the same amount of money, we would just have to call that communism wouldn't we now. Neil

*In the 70's overtime was taxed @ up to 75 cents in the dollar. John

*No Brainer. Neville

*I do believe in it but I also believe that this government spending is way out of control. They spend more than Labour!!! Key doesn't have a plan.. Also, cut back GST down to 10 percent. Jackp

*Close the loopholes of those who are paying little, if any tax. The very wealthy. Maureen

*Haven't these rich p...s ever heard of living within their means. We have to. Try it Mr. Key with the income you are already fleecing from us taxpayers for you to waste particularly of no-hoping life stylers.!!! Carolyn

*If the Government concentrated on getting more people back into the work force rather than paying them out of taxes to sit around doing nothing, then the Government would not need as much funding (that Labour is suggesting should be stolen off the wealthy). Get those poor deprived soles back to the work force. If the Government wants to continue to pay them, then make the beneficiaries work for their income (just like Winston Peters suggested many years ago). When we get the idol back working for the money they receive, then the Government will have the required funding it so desperately needs. Why keep attacking the wealthy. It is the beneficiaries who are raping and pilaging New Zealand every chance they get. While so many of the wealthy and trying to create employment for more New Zealanders. Delwyn

This week's poll asks:

Do you support New Zealand’s top tax rate being raised to 39c?

*So many people living in New Zealand, and polititions are part of this group, think that just raising taxes will splve all financial problems. What this ignorant group appear not to understand is that money has to be earned before it can be taxed. The answer to New Zealands financial problems are lower taxes and help for NZ Ltd to produce more product to be experted and sold to overseas customers. Food and drink must be near the top of the list because we have skills in this area which people like the Chinese can not copy. In World terms NZ is just another smaller business and to survive we have to make a profit with our trading. Politicians seem to be unaware of this vital fact. Ernest

*I don't support any tax rate! Why do we need a government system that forcibly extorts from us our hard earned money, incompetently wastes it, uses it against us and then comes back wanting more. FTG! Robert

*Absolutely! The sooner the better. Rick

*Message to government ... control your spending, not mine! Andy

*Once again if you are deemed successful, careful, you are penalised while other who act recklessly get government handsout at the expense of the diligent. I get really hacked off by this tax bashing which forces me to minimise my tax liability. Gary

*It's not about taxing the rich - its about reducing the massive bloated dead carcass known as "the gummint". Small government, no red tape, minimal laws, rules & regs, the reinstatement of absolute morals, the abolishing of the socialist post-modern darwinian "we're nothing but evolved slime" teaching from the schools - and, of course, the big word "NO" to all the "special interest" groups and their globalist sponsors. Sounds like the time for a revolution is at hand... Peter

*It does not work low tax is paid, high tax is avoided, much proof on this point. Christopher

*A destructive and ignorant move reflecting its supporters. Bruce

*This is a silly idea which will discourage investment and further depress economic growth. Instead we should be reducing taxes to stimulate growth. Peter

*I don't really support the top tax rate being raised to 39 cents in the dollar. I would support that abolition of personal and company taxation entirely. K

*Absolutely NOT!!!! A 1% financial transaction tax that EVERYONE has to pay AND scrap income tax & gst (Govt Sanctioned Theft ) completely. Then we HAVE got a level playing field. Dave

*If government spending ia cut to 2005 levels there would be no need to increase the tax rate. They haven't the nerve to do so as it could loose a few votes from the voters that they are trying to attract. John

*We need to reduce our tax rate not increase! David

*Possible political success.....certain economic failure. Ronmac

*Keep taxing with higher rates and drive the main tax layers out of NZ. With working for families some people pay no tax at all. The people like us, about to turn 65 and people without families are paying the majority of the taxes. I say hit the high earners not the PAYE earners who have no way to avoid taxes. Believe me, we would if we could. The system we have makes you want to be dishonest, especially when you are carrying the Country and getting screwed by paying over third your wage in tax and then being taxed GST on the rest of it. What makes it worse is watching the useless Government squander it away on benefits, Maori claims and other useless ventures. Still soon we will have our hand out getting Super and why would a person want to stay working just to have half of it taken off you by Useless Governments who can't stop spending on promises that keep them leeching off the hard workers of NZ. No matter how hard you try to get ahead they just find a way to screw more of your money out of you. And please, please, let's get rid of MMP. Chris

*Won't acheive what politicians think it will. Eleanor

*We need more taxpayers not less. The Govt should be getting a positive return on their investment in the unemployed, which presently is a grossly negative return. Paul

*But I would do so if Government reduced its spening significantly. Peter

*It is about time that our tax system 9top to bottom) needs overhauling. Carl

*This is all about class warfare, driven by socialist engineers. John

*With GST at 15% we are already paying 48 cents in the dollar. Enough is enough. Garry

*Not a real solution. We need to generate new income, not just push around whatever's in the kitty now. Too much tax is no incentive to work and generate income. Sheila

This week's poll asks:

Do you support New Zealand’s top tax rate being raised to 39c?

*This will not improve NZ economy but only is a quick fix for politicians who want to earn votes and give the impression they are doing something good for people (esp. so called "poor"). It is a false move...why should people who know how to work hard and earn money be penalised??? They should be rewarded not castigated!!! Adriana

*People are already voting with their feet. M

*It's a bit like asking the turkey to vote for thanksgiving!!!! Tim

*Rather have a flat GST of 20% and no income tax. Adrian

*No higher taxes never worked in the past and, I believe, won't work in the future..you have to give workers an incentive to perform rather than a penalty..that has been my experience. No one is interested in work these days, its all what they can get for nothing. Audrey

*Progressive taxes are fair. The argument that they reduce growth is weak, and anyway, slower growth would not be altogether bad. Don

*Give us an example of a country that runs as you wish and how all the citizens live not some average. I voted yes to be different from the other rants. Ross

*Middle income earners will mostly carry the can in the western world as the result of the governments that have spent more $s than they earn.These taxpayers will bail out the banks that have lent to these countries that have spent like drunken humans.
Wake up NZers, please do your homework and understand the train wreck that is coming. This is not a conspiracy, it is fact. Please dear reader do your home work and warn your friends and family, to study and learn the dire straights that we find ourselves in, and to learn how to navigate thru the storm.
Europe is a classic, the USA another. Socialistion of the largess has been taking place slowly but surely for many years thru out the world, NZ is no exception. Many NZers have no idea what is coming down the track. We are borrowing a billion or so dollars a month to retain a standard of living we can not afford. This debt has to be paid back, but how do you think this will happen, and if so in what time frame?
How has this situation arisen?
Who has allowed this situation to occur?
Who will fix or lead the world out the mess that exists?
Will we face a world war in the next 3 - 4 years?

One thing for sure dear reader we will certainly need jobs to survive. The system in which small businesses work in in NZ and try to survive in is being strangled slowly but surely by a compliance regime that is anti business.Many hard working Kiwis are screwed by the tax they already pay. The tax system reminds one of communisim, there is very little incentive to work harder or longer hours, or hold down two jobs with out being taxed unfairly.Not all want to work longer hours etc, a fair call,but for those who do the sytem is unfair.
A profitable small business community in NZ is paramount, govts past and present have promised less compliance, but the reverse is the case.
Small business is NZds survival. Ross

This week's poll asks:

Do you support New Zealand’s top tax rate being raised to 39c?

*I support it being lowered. Malcolm

*If Brash thinks marijuana is not harmful - he must be on it. Ian

*We are taxed enough already. Govt is alwats looking at new ways to raise revenue for consumption. Al

*Governments here love to kill the goose that lays the golden egg! Willy

*I do not support a higher tax take for the simple reason of; those with money will always find ways not to pay while the us at the bottom do not have access to the creative tax loop holes that the better off seem to have.
How about a flat tax rate of say 25 cents in the dollar. For everything and everyone. Whether you earn $8000 on the dole or $8million in a business. No tax breaks etc but everyone paying the same. No excise tax or Capital Gains, No interest or tax on Rates, No GST on Power etc.
No Govt handouts to "special interest groups" like Waitangi Treaty claims or NZSO or Company Bailouts. The only exception I would make would be in the case of Natural Disasters ie; Chch Earthquake.
Get rid of Kyoto and Carbon trading schemes along with all the red tape BS that hinders ordinary NZers from working quickly and smarter. Make earning Export dollars a postive thing but also support the local ecomony with fair wages and fair prices for the basic food and life needs. Spread the base economy over the entire country, not just Auckland. Get small towns productive again. The next govt is going to have some hard decisions to make and they have to be fair and they have to begin to think outside the finacial square.
The current world economic mess can be laid fair and square at George W Bush's war mongering door. We need to think of NZ first and the rest of the world and special needs groups second and third. There is no need to be seen to dispense charity and largesse while the goose starves. Wendy

*Hands off my property and income! Reuben

*Tax the rich pricks to support more benefit funded alcohol and drug users and baby factories? I don't think this is the answer. John

*Debating who is rich or poor - who should pay whatever level of tax is a issue that is bounced by all political groups. We only need one tax level which is presented as GST. Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief - everybody pays when they spend! This would put NZ on the map for all the right reasons! Mark

*Most emphatically NO! Just for info - my salary is a mere 60000 so the top tax would not affect me. Peter

*NO NO NO. NZ'ers have had enough! Why can't these people get it through their THICK skulls that 'when people prosper the country does too'! We are being micro-controlled and heavily taxed enough!!!! I see family violence is on the rise and they are blaming alcohol - does anyone stop to think that maybe these issues are developing BECAUSE of the system we are trapped in?????NEW ZEALANDERS - WE NEED TO BREAK THESE CHAINS. Vote ACT or http://www.libertarianz.org.nz We have got to get rid of these apartheid, maniacal penal minded politician's. Trina

This week's poll asks:

Do you support New Zealand’s top tax rate being raised to 39c?

*Heck no - governments already take too much of what we earn in NZ. then they largely waste the money on useless programmes designed to satisfy vested interest groups. With all of the middle class welfare sloshing around the system - especially Working for Families - it's little wonder that anyone bothers to work hard in this country. Paul

*I cannot understand why this country doesn't move to a flat tax. With GST at 15% it wouldn't take much to bring in a flat 15% tax then watch the economy boom! Andrew

*God help us if the socialists get back into power. The Greens especially are very dangerous with their environment taxes and water levies. I suppose these would be similar to a poll tax. I only hope voters see the Greens for the danger that they are instead of seeing them as some romantic motherhood and apple pie party. A combination of the Maori Party and the Greens in a coalition government would be a disaster for NZ. Kate

*No, no, no! No more taxes. It is hard enough to survive in this country as it is without the thought of taxes going up. Sam

*The rhetoric of the left makes me sick. "Pay their fair share" indeed! It's just code for "I will fleece you dry". The what would our taxes be used for - anything sensible? No - no doubt it would fund some left wing voter group. Taxes should be being reduced in this day and age so economies can prosper. Brian

*If taxes were to go up in this country we would go to Australia. It is hard enough to make ends meet as it is without some stupid politicians trying to fleece us more. What with the Emissions Trading Tax and the rise in GST, tax rates have increased more than enough as it is. Philip

*So the Greens think anyone earning $80k a year is rich - what planet are they living on! Bruce