Capital gains taxes, global warming, and jail

Deserving of high accolade

The sacrifice that Joe Karam has made on behalf of an unrelated fellow citizen is almost beyond belief. That a stranger would give, unreservedly, a large portion of his life, skills and fortune in the relentless pursuit of justice for another human being is such a singularly altruistic act in this materialistic age that it should not pass without thanks and recognition from us all.
His was not a single act of battlefield bravery, but a prolonged, difficult, expensive and often thankless campaign fought over many years.
Regardless of the trial's outcome, Mr Karam's contribution has been monumental and surely deserving of this country's highest accolades. He has truly "laid down his life for his friend".
Who else languishing in prison would not yearn for just one person among our four million inhabitantsto strive unceasingly for his or her deliverance?
GORDON NORFOLK
Levin

Capital gains tax idea ludicrous

I have just read an extraordinary speech by Treasury Secretary John Whitehead advocating a capital gains tax on investment property and that now is the time to have "significant adjustment and change" so the economy can emerge strongly from the recession.
Several aspects of his speech puzzled me. First, I'd like to know if this policy would affect Mr Whitehead himself because, in my experience, officials who come up with potential new tax changes are usually exempt from them themselves. I'm probably right in assuming Mr Whitehead owns no investment property himself.
What amazes me is why he and other superfluous officials haven't realised that having a capital gains tax would only increase the price of property. Investors would choose never to sell if they already owned, and there would be a lack of housing supply.
I also find it amazing that Mr Whitehead has neglected the human aspect of economics, which is, in fact, the most pivotal. I find it absolutely extraordinary that he believes that property taxes would encourage investment into productive activity.
Were there no private landlords, where would people live? What could be more important than that?
DANIEL PARUN
Brooklyn [abridged]

Where has this man been?

Treasury Secretary John Whitehead has been musing about the longstanding issue of taxing capital gains from property investment to divert the money more productively. Where was he over the years when the property bubble was blowing out, inevitably to burst, with such tragic results for the economy?
Surely his department and Inland Revenue, which has existing powers to back-tax property speculation, should have come up with answers by now?
Many would agree that a money-go-round in property is not good for the future, but events over the past year have shown up our commercial and industrial base to be thin, with shonky management across several sectors now gutted as a result of imprudence.
Regulatory control that might have averted disaster has been hopeless, too. So, if we hammer the housing game, where will people put their money for a reasonable return that will last the distance?
A very big and worm-free carrot is required.
TIM ABBOTT
Waikanae

A test of our faith

P Miller is correct. Linking humans to animals through fossils is incredibly pathetic and fraudulent. The whole theory of evolution is wrong.
The truth of the matter is that a cosmic Jewish zombie, who was his own father, can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
Fossils were put on earth by God to test our faith  that makes perfect sense.
DANIEL BELL
Mt Victoria

It's much too late for caution

How disheartening to read Catherine Beard's diatribe on the Greenpeace Sign Up initiative (Features, June 3). If her article, replete with defeatism, scaremongering, foot-dragging, dated thinking and red herrings, truly represents the industrial sector's approach to climate change, we're in trouble.
She says the cost of signing up to a 40 per cent emissions reduction target might be high but fails to even consider the very much higher cost of failing to achieve the target. She tells us that "caution should be the order of the day". However, when the 20 scientists, economists and writers at the St James' Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium tell us that world carbon emissions must start to decline in only six years if humanity is to stand a chance of preventing dangerous global warming, caution is not an appropriate response.
There is an excellent and well-researched 2006 documentary called Who Killed the Electric Car, which does a lot to illustrate how the same sort of dated thinking caused General Motors to go bankrupt. Perhaps Ms Beard should see it. It might help her refocus.
LORNA SUTHERLAND
Wanganui

I strongly object to this argument

Actor and celebrity Robyn Malcolm says, "we are just a group of Kiwis who care deeply about the country" (Features, June 5). This implies that if you don't buy into the unproven science of global warming, you don't care about your country.
I object strongly to this and comments such as a "40 per cent reduction is needed to avoid the runaway warming of the planet", when as many scientists say we are in a mini ice age.
I want to hear more healthy debate from scientists in recognised fields that are relevant, not people pushing a political agenda. Right or wrong, why should New Zealand lead the world in an unproven science?
Compared with the rest of the world, we are small in number and limited in our pollution. Why not lead the world with our own realistic programmes of insulation, solar power, recycling, tidal power, and animal methane use?
Let's forget carbon and a carbon emissions tax until this science is proven. Let's not accept; let's question.
KATHLEEN ANNETT
Otaki

Prison standards are appalling

I am appalled to read about the details of the arrest of Jeffery Reid and that he's a unit manager at Rimutaka Prison  "no one searches him ... he can walk in loaded with dope. Who is going to search him? (Prison boss part of drug ring, June 6-7).
Every industrial company I have worked for in Australia and New Zealand, security-checks people whether they're a factory sweeper or the chief executive.
In fact, in Perth, the new general manager from Sydney was shocked when he drove out the gate the first day and was waved through with the remark, "I won't check your car".
He sternly replied, "You check absolutely every car, including mine".
No wonder our jails are awash with drugs. Why the double standard for bosses? Do government departments always have two rules? If so, bring on private jails where absolutely everyone is searched  no exceptions.
MURRAY HUNTER
Waitakere City

TO THE POINT

Some words from Rudyard Kipling come to mind: "The loud uneasy virtue, the anger feigned at will, to overbear a witness, and make the court keep still". David Bain's acquittal is a triumph for Michael Reed QC, who, by a calculated appeal to sentiment and stupidity, colluded in a perversion of justice.
HUGH COLEY, Nelson

I understand that Wellington's new public hospital cost $250 million.
I understand that it is not a money problem. I understand that it is not a planning matter. What I don't understand is why the new hospital doesn't have a cancer ward for children. Who forgot it?
SAM GOWAN, Newtown

Given the current environment, shouldn't Political Dispatches end with "Parliament is in recession"?
TARIQ SAEED-MALIK, Tawa

I thank Sir Robert Jones for generously donating $20,000, alongside ratepayers, for a publicly visible clock next to a pub in Lambton Quay (June 6-7). Just like the famous Westminster tower, now Wellington will have a monument we can all refer to as Sir Robert's "quirky as a two Bob watch" timepiece.
M LAURENCE WITHY, Lowry Bay

I am delighted to learn that Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast has agreed to go ahead with the huge clock in Lambton Quay, to be funded largely by Sir Robert Jones. There remains the question of a name. "The Bob Jones Clock" seems a bit mundane. How about "Big Bob"?
STUART BRIDGMAN, Brooklyn

The language of Thursday's front-page article about former minister Richard Worth's dismissal had me believing I'd missed something: "Mr Key investigated claims that the Internal Affairs minister offered a woman a job for romantic favours a month before police began investigating other serious allegations against him". What exactly is "romantic" about a woman being sexually harassed and humiliated in the workplace?
EMMA WHITE, Northland

I wonder if Prime Minister John Key really believes in meritocracy. In the past month, he's had two list MPs show their true colours. Melissa Lee is a greenwood MP and Richard Worth dead wood. How do these people get on to a party list? It can't be on merit. It appears the public just voted in more of the same.
GREG SCOBIE, Tawa

My thanks to columnist Linley Boniface (A question smacking of deceit, June 8).
JOCELYN GRAINGER, Island Bay

- © Fairfax NZ News

Newest First

Oldest First

Sarah   #1   12:14 pm Jun 11 2009

Daniel Bell - absolutely brilliant! I couldn't agree any more, that made my day!

Bruce   #2   05:05 pm Jun 11 2009

Now I have "heard and seen" it all, someone who dares put their name to the dubious claim that a CGT would increase the price of property -so why did homes rise and rise in value while first home buyers were being pushed out of the market by the unaffordability?

As to the idea, that landlords would hold onto property and avoid a CGT if one was introduced: too easy mate, just apply a land tax on rental property in lieu of the CGT. This land tax repayable when the property is sold and the CGT is assessed.

I would go further and deny any landlord who received a mortgage interest cost deduction against rent income the ability to sell a house without paying "company tax" on their "rental property business" profits.

Ad Feedback