Press Release | GST off food
Posted on August 16, 2011 by admin in Press ReleasesPress Release
Hone Harawira
Tai Tokerau MP and Leader of MANA
16 August 2011
“Tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for the poor are the explosive ingredients for massive dislocation and disaffection in a society where the gap between rich and poor grows day by day” said Hone Harawira, MP for Tai Tokerau and leader of the MANA Movement “and any move to bridge that gap and reduce those inequalities is worthy of support.”
“That’s why MANA is proud to support this campaign to remove GST from food and to tax financial speculation in this country.
“GST is a tax that targets the poor because they don’t have much money to spend, and nearly everything that they spend gets hit by GST. On the other hand, financial speculators deal in millions of dollars every day on the world’s financial markets, and don’t pay anything.”
“The increase in the price of basic food stuffs is crippling families, and GST is pushing some families over the edge.
“New Zealand already has 200,000 children living in poverty, and yet, at a time when policies have enabled the top 150 people to make $7 billion, much of it through financial speculation, government refuses to take GST off food to help its own children to survive.
“I hope the election in November is fought on the rights of ordinary New Zealanders to get a fair deal. 200,000 children living in poverty is a deal no New Zealander should have to accept.
ENDS
For more information please contact Raewyn Harrison 021 649 553
Brenda Reti says:
Post Author August 16, 2011 at 2:55 pmWay to go Mana Party and to u Matua Hone Harawira. Its about time somebody did something significant for the less fortunate of our Country. I’ve never voted before but this is the first year I believe in one of the Political Parties Promises and the first year I am going to enrol to vote. I pray that you are not like all the other Parties who have made promises similar to this in the past but never fulfilled their words with action. Therefore stand proud and be strong because the road is long and arduous ahead of you. Mauri Tu Mauri Ora!!!
Blair says:
Post Author August 16, 2011 at 7:43 pmIf you remove the tax off these products, the laws of economics will just push the price up back to the same as it was before… only without tax.
Ken says:
Post Author August 19, 2011 at 12:54 am@Blair
Blair, it seems you have fallen victim to the propaganda that is spread by the media.
The laws of economics actually say that if you remove the tax from a subset of goods, then more of the nation’s ‘production’(work) is allocated towards those goods.
This means that by removing the tax that is imposed upon basic foodstuffs, then there will be more demand for such items. In turn, more of N.Z. energy will be devoted to producing such items. This will increase the supply of such items and consequently drive down their price.
From a functional perspective, a tax cut is the same as the government spending. So this tax cut should be viewed as people spending the state’s money upon essential foodstuffs. Its the same as a subsidy, except this subsidy goes towards people surviving.
Prices won’t go up.
Moana says:
Post Author August 16, 2011 at 9:36 pmI do believe that Rāhui Kātene – Tōrangapū Māori ki te Tai Tonga sought to remove GST from HEALTHY foods .. just saying
Mary Brown says:
Post Author August 18, 2011 at 3:57 pmShortsite, back to basics, do everything we can to supply ourselves with food, grow, hunt, fish. These are whole foods. The consumerist groceries are processed, supplemented with poisons and chemicals leading to short life, bad health. Why pay insane unrealistic prices, in which the tariffs are set by ‘capitalists’, of whom have proven a track record of gaining huge profit from supplying sub standard and inadequate foods, and some that are outright containing chemicals and preservatives that are bad for our well being.
Long sight, we must get rid of the “Debt Based Economy” that was set up by the World Reserve Bank, we must find a truely balanced form of Economy that is not geared to find profit making its way eventually to the same group (WRB), and that does not leave those who choose to become apart of that Economy in debt inevitably. The Reserve Bank and its monetary system is a tool for a very small group of people to become extremely rich, and a very large mass of people very poor. Not only is finding a new economy system not based on these draconian objectives going to sustain our lives longer, but this globe we cannot live without, we are quickly destroying because of our lazy, uninsightive, perverted monetary ideology. We must ask the question and stop putting our heads in the sand. Is money and man the reason for our global demise.???? We need to change, we need to grow spiritually, we need to come to terms with materialism and realise, its not the way to go. Open the eyes…….
oh and choice Hone I’ll be voting for you. Thanks for your hard work. It will make a difference. chur
Mary Brown says:
Post Author August 18, 2011 at 4:03 pmOne last thing…. we need to stop talking about working within a system thats not working.
Ken says:
Post Author August 19, 2011 at 1:00 am@Mary
I completely agree with you. The system we currently have doesn’t work.
I believe that we should move towards a fairer financial system.
We should create the N.Z equivalent of bitcoin. Except the tax-rate is a community voted average, and we each have an equal say in allocating the tax collected.
This will be a fairer system that will literally give each voice power. Not just a vote every 4 years. But the right to yield the financial system the the desires of the masses.
Ken says:
Post Author August 19, 2011 at 7:49 pm@Mana supporters.
I think people should be careful asking for complete removal of the GST. I support the removal of GST from essential foodstuffs, but removing the GST completely will have detrimental consequences for New Zealand.
GST(or VAT) is a tax on enjoyment. The idea of GST is to penalize the purchase of goods or services that are not socially necessary. The GST rate on particular items can be reduced or increased to reflect which items the community wants people to consume more or less of.
By removing the GST altogether society is promoting a culture of wasteful exuberance. There is no incentive to save or watch what you consume.
In Sweden they have a GST rate starting at 25%, which is reduced to 12% for food and hotel room rental, and 6% for tickets to cultural events, travel within Sweden and sales of publications. This has the cumulative effect of encouraging people to interact with each other.
The issue with N.Z atm is that people don’t have enough income to support themselves. However this is a separate issue unrelated to GST.
Don says:
Post Author August 22, 2011 at 9:52 amKen, GST is not on luxuries, its on all the essentials that most workers spend all of each weeks pay on. GST hasn’t stopped any rich people buying their boats and race horses and mansions.
Labour’s anti worker GST has to go, as a step along the way towards getting rid of the whole anti worker capitalist system.
We need more enjoyment, not less!
Ken says:
Post Author August 23, 2011 at 6:27 pmDon, the issue with N.Z GST, is that disproportionately targets disadvantaged social groups. Removing the GST altogether will not achieve anything.
A properly structured GST will encourage people to invest for future generations. Countries like Norway, Sweden, and Finland all have progressive GST tax systems. They all have GST levels starting at 25%. Despite this, they don’t social unrest or crowds asking for complete removal of the GST. Rather they are top-ranked on nearly every humanitarian measure.
This clearly indicates that the GST is not the sole cause of social inequality in N.Z. atm, and removing it is unlikely to achieve anything.
If anything the base GST rate should be increased with a corresponding restructure of the GST system. The increased tax revenues could be used to lower the GST on desperately needed food items. The end result is a redistribution of wealth from rich to poor.
But the media infects the public about how bad taxes are. Taxes aren’t the issue, it’s how they are structured. BTW the Nordic countries generally tax 50% of income.
Politically, I don’t expect the MANA party to be pursuing such policies. Unfortunately, not only is it difficult to obtain essential foodstuffs, but it is also difficult to become educated enough to understand how society works. I expect MANA to pursue an agenda that is easy to understand, and that people connect with.