Posts by Paul Campbell
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Between 2000 and 2009 he made profits of $4.6 million and returned $510,000 to the Crown through GST on what he spent on prostitutes.
(pulls out handy divide by nine calculator) he spent it ALL on prostitutes? I'm impressed - he's been giving ASB middle management a run for their money then ....
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more importantly you're paying GST now and will be paying GST after whether the money goes to the city to do a service or is passed on to a 3rd party - GST will only increase if the amount you're paying increases - that part's a wash.
On the other hand profits are taxed - if they charge you more than they used to and end up making a profit rather that doing the work at cost - then yes there will be tax money going to Wellington - but that's only coming out of your pocket because they're charging you more than they used to when the city did the same job
I suspect it might be local body election year and someone has too look like he's doing something .....
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our just turned 17yr old just passed her test - you can see just how much it's changed her life - it really is a liberating event for a teenager - of course she has to be home by 10pm or turn into a pumpkin.
I use a passport for ID everywhere - mostly because for a while I only had a California license and it's become a habit - in California though most shop people have never seen a passport (NZ or otherwise) and sort of stare blankly at it - that CA license is still very useful.
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I think that just points out how effective Dr Smith is working behind the scenes ("danger! danger! Will Robinson") - I for one welcome our new alien overlords as they take over Auckland's local bodies ....
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It seems to me that the best thing Labour could do now would be to come out and say "we will re-nationalise (localise?) every Auckland asset that is privatised in the current process at 10c on the dollar" - that should basically make everyone refuse to touch them or invest money in them - the Nats will be forced to backpedal and keep it all in the public domain
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we have to do something to unlock all that money invested in property so we can grow the rest of our economy, seems to me that leveling the playing field by taxing profits in that part of the economy the same way as everyone else is taxed would be a great place to start.
I lived in the US for 20 years - there there is no 'capital gains tax' as such - it's all just treated as income whether it came from the sale of shares or a house or normal employment.
There are two main exceptions:
- the family home - you can avoid paying tax on income from selling a family home by buying another one of the same or greater worth - and (variously depending on which party changed things recently) you can either claim a $500k exemption every decade or so or a one time life-time exemption (usually when you retire and the kids have gone and you downsize)
- there is a 'long term capital gains' tax in the US - you nominate an investment when you make it and if you keep it for long enough, 3-5 years then it's taxed at a lower marginal rate - 25% compared with 30somethingTo me this solves most of the problems we have with a CGT or equivalent - it captures windfalls, equalises the property market with the rest of the economy, encourages long term investments (in property or other parts of the economy) and means that most people's main real-estate activity - buying and selling a home - is not effected.
of course people find ways to rort the system (every other builder i met built himself a new home and lived in it every 3-5 years ....)
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Summer? there was a summer? actually I think we got 2 weeks in Feb - roll on global warming ....
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Do the contents of the hot water cylinder count?
Not of you don't have it tied down well enough that it escapes during the quake and crushes someone. Nor does it count if your house is on on traditional NZ brick piles, or is not bolted to the concrete foundation or doesn't have good enough shear walls to stay put and the whole thing collapses around you.
You learn all about this stuff when you get the building inspection when you buy a house in California.
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Support for the Springbok tour was particularly strong in rural and small-town New Zealand. In the Taranaki dairy town of Eltham, 50 lonely protestors were showered with eggs and bottles as they marched up the street one Friday night.
Good on them - I know how they felt - sneaking into Invercargil in the back of unmarked trucks having driven around until the worst of the locals had gone into the games was unnerving - so was marching down the main street of Dunedin on that last day when some mysterious someone had turned off the local TV transmitter .... there were a lot of angry people coming out of pubs .... few were sober ....
And the whole world WAS watching that day in Hamilton.
I do like the idea of poking a stick in the eye of the powers that be by naming something after John Minto ....
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yes - perhaps they could choose smaller rugby players ....