Posts by Steve Parks
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to DexterX,
Who are the “Too many that are doing business for capital gain” and what is the proof?
Once again, I will point out that you happily ask for proof, facts & figures when someone makes a point in favour of cgt, but can’t provide any in regards your key complaint about rent increases. I accept Huang and Elliffe’s case, a case they made after looking at actual overseas experiences with cgt. I also accept Matthew’s counter to you about rents, and how it won’t be a significant problem, especially in the medium to long term. I’m looking at the big picture, not worrying about whether there may be a one off increase in rent at the time of introduction.
If you want to encourage reinvestment then you provide tax relief
And pay for it how? Elliffe and Huang note that revenue from a cgt could be partly used to reduce other taxes, if that’s seen as desirable. If you were arguing for something like that to happen, it’d make more sense to me. (Personally, I’d like to see the revenue from cgt go to debt reduction, and increasing spending in some areas.)
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Hard News: Book review: 'Wikileaks:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Mind you, the SST’s legal threat again Brian Edwards yesterday suggests a predisposition for stupid decisions.
Honestly, what made the SST think that that was a sensible approach? Will seriously backfire, I’d say.
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Muse: TV Review: Good Gods Almighty!, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
*cough* First line of the post: “The Almighty Johnsons (Three, Mondays, 9.30; repeated Sundays, 10.30pm)”
Yeah, I saw it, but Geoff obviously missed it.
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to DexterX,
…the penalties for furnishing incorrect returns even inadvertently or making an honest mistake are horrendous and compound monthly. ...
The penalty regime is so harsh it bankrupts people who make honest mistakes or run into difficulty with the cash flow …
If true, that sounds like a ligit cause for complaint, and I’m not in favour the the IRD applying harsh penalties for honest mistakes. But it is a separate issue to the one at hand.
Also, you seem to be saying that we have in effect a type of gains tax: “taxpayers involved in activities that have a high incidence of audits [including] rentals … have to file returns correctly and pay tax and that includes paying tax on the gains from the sale of rental ppty.” If some are paying it anyway, why not support a proper all encompassing capital gains tax regime instead of this adhoc collection?
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Muse: TV Review: Good Gods Almighty!, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
Will ep. 1 be repeated anywhere?
Yes. Though this question should surely have been answered by James or Simon!...
It will be repeated this Sunday 22:30 on TV something-or-other. -
Hard News: Book review: 'Wikileaks:…, in reply to B Jones,
There’s work underway on just that issue.
Good to see.
From B Jones’ link:
Other taskforce proposals include giving judges the ability to direct juries … that “beyond reasonable doubt” does not mean “no doubt” the accused is guilty.
Hmm, I’d definitely say most of the other suggestions made should be seriously considered, bit I’m not so sure about that one. My understanding (and Graeme Edgeler or some other lawyer will correct me if I’m wrong) is that the exact interpretation of “beyond reasonable doubt” is left to the jury. Regardless, it would seem to me that on those occasions that the judge did make a point to say that '"beyond reasonable doubt" does not mean "no doubt"', it could well come across to the jury as a hint: “hey, you and me, we all know this guy’s guilty. Just sayin’ …”
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to DexterX,
What was the massive proportion of them??
He doesn't need to research this, anymore than he needs to research that the sun comes up in the morning.
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I think calling ‘trolling’ is unfair.
Anyway, at the risk of being told to “just fucking google it” (I just fucking couldn’t be bothered, okay?)
I have to ask: SCT?
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Hard News: Book review: 'Wikileaks:…, in reply to B Jones,
Fair enough, you hadn’t gotten to that bit when I started responding.
It occurred to me afterwards that overlapping responses may have been the problem. Sorry to be unnecessarily sarcastic.
I don't know much about Sweden's legal system, but our one certainly seems to me to be less than perfectly suited to sexual assault cases. One problem is that 'beyond reasonable doubt' is a huge hurdle in all so-called 'date rape' situations, where word against word almost inevitably leads to some doubt and an acquittal. I can't think of anything that can be done about this, as I support benefit of the doubt for the accused. I do wonder if there aren't some things that could be done about what the defence can do in terms of tearing down the reputation of the complainant, though.
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to Paul Williams,
NZ has very high tertiary participation rates and currently also loses alot of people to overseas. I don’t advocate decreasing tertiary education funding but we might want to acknowledge that, for the moment at least, we’re not capturing the value of the investment and might need to do some rethinking.
Sure, but I don't consider "Don’t let people leave NZ until they have paid off their student loan" as serious rethinking. Or thinking.