Show Me the “Monetary Reform” David Cunliffe! Following Phil Goff’s release of Labour’s Finance Manifesto today, David Cunliffe has said in a New Zealand Labour Party press release : “Labour is backing the drive for more high value exports with monetary reform ...” I challenge David Cunliffe, Labour’s Finance Spokesperson, to front up and explain what he means by the term ‘monetary reform’. If he means replacing toxic debt-based commercial bank credit with social credit, as the sole means of money coming into existence and continuing to exist – issued in the public interest, to serve the common good - then I would endorse his definition. And if he accepts that it’s crazy for our government to borrow from foreign lenders, with interest, when we could use the publicly-owned Reserve Bank of New Zealand as an independent statutory monetary authority with the sole power to create, issue, and cancel New Zealand’s money, then I applaud his endeavours. But if Mr. Cunliffe thinks ‘mo
The Labour Party’s desperate capital gains tax plan, so far from being bold, will do nothing for the economy or the country. The USA has had a capital gains tax for many decades, but it has not stopped housing bubbles or redistributed the tax burden more fairly. Taxing capital gains is a complicated and costly exercise in futility, a last century concept along with the National Party’s asset sales and other out-dated ideas. What New Zealand needs is a 21st Century tax system that is truly fair and takes advantage of modern technology. There is a growing call for a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), around the world and here in New Zealand. FTT is a tax with no loopholes, so that those high income earners that currently avoid paying tax will at last contribute to Government revenue. FTT is entirely cost-effective. Banking software already exists to collect withholding tax, so there is no need to re-invent the wheel. An effective FTT rate, one that will both slow rampant speculation and