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  • Should the Reserve Bank target unemployment as well as inflation? Will the new government abolish the dual mandate?

    nonaBack in 1989 – near the end of the fourth Labour government – the inflation-busting Reserve Bank Act was passed. Labour has shifted well away from the Rogernomics of that decade, and in 2021 Grant Robertson added maximum sustainable employment to the bank’s mandate - with the support of coalition partner NZ First.

    Read more: Should the Reserve Bank target unemployment as well as inflation? Will the new government abolish...

  • The next three years – the job ahead for Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori

    The Fabians had a session on Nov 14th reflecting on the elections. Our panel of Simon Wilson, Senior Writer at NZ Herald, Bridie Witton, Stuff Press Gallery Reporter and Ollie Neas, freelance writer used the election results as a springboard to target some of the key issues for Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori as they head into opposition.

    Coverage can be found here

  • Rob Campbell on Pae Ora Health Reforms

    Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Pae Ora health reforms with you.

    Since I was sacked by the Health Minister I have taken time to reflect on the experience and to make a considered assessment of what I learned in the process. My intention tonight is to share that with you, making the assumption that we share common ground in wanting to have an effective, efficient, excellent and equitable public health service.

    If anyone does not want that, I don’t really have anything useful to share with you.

    Read more: Rob Campbell on Pae Ora Health Reforms

  • Interview transcript: Ambassador Wang Xiaolong with NZ Fabian Society

    Hello, my name is Mike Smith, from the New Zealand Fabian Society. It's my great pleasure today to interview Ambassador Wang Xiaolong from the People's Republic of China to talk with us about China's values. I heard Ambassador Wang speak at a meeting convened by the Institute of International RelationsNZIIA last year and in the course of that meeting, he addressed the question of China's values and said, "China's choice for values, social system and path to modernity is made by our own people, based on our own history, culture and realities. All these choices have proven to be suitable and effective to solve China's problems and meet the needs of the Chinese people".

    Read more: Interview transcript: Ambassador Wang Xiaolong with NZ Fabian Society

Bill Rosenberg was a member of the Tax Working Group. His presentation at the Fabian Society in Wellington is summarised here. The summary is taken from his article in the NZCTU monthly economic Bulletin. The full article will be published in the Papers and Presentations section of the website.

The Tax Working Group (TWG) has reported back. The reactions to the proposal for taxing the income from capital gains have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous and from “it doesn’t go nearly far enough” to “this is the end of the kiwi way of life”. They have exposed a class society where one group of people seemingly believe that almost everyone owns at least one investment property and a bach (no wonder they didn’t believe there is a housing crisis) while the experience of most is that buying even one house is increasingly unaffordable.


A crucial function of the tax system is to reduce inequality. In the September Bulletin I showed how weak New Zealand’s tax and transfer (income support) system was at doing this. Taxing the income from capital gains as proposed by the TWG would be a significantly inequality-reducing move. However it won’t be enough to revitalise the inequality-reducing power of the income tax system, nor raise sufficient funds to restore our public services and welfare system. That would require higher top income tax rates which have been ruled out by the Government. If a tax on the income from capital gains is defeated, it seems that high inequality and insufficient revenue will remain for many years a permanent, yet avoidable, blight on New Zealand society.


The TWG report covered not only taxing the income from capital gains but many other matters some of which the commentary describes briefly: Environmental taxes, business taxes, savings, personal income tax, understanding high wealth and income, and stopping cheating. The main case for taxing income from capital gains is fairness. It reduces inequality and ensures this kind of income is treated equally with wages, salaries, interest and other types of income that are already taxed. It is unfair that someone make a $50,000 profit on the sale of rental property and not be taxed while some earning $50,000 from wages will be. If the share of the nation’s income going to wage and salary earners continues to fall, whether due to automation, globalisation or unfair employment law, then the importance of taxing capital is only going to increase.


Almost every other OECD country taxes income from capital gains, and it is uncontentious. As aCanadian professor told Radio New Zealand, we would be “joining the modern world, tax-wise.”
The commentary responds to some of the assertions being made about the proposed tax. Should capital gains be taxed at the same rate as other income? Yes, it always has been, and otherwise leaves loopholes and unfairness. Will it hurt investment? It should move some investment from inflating property prices to more productive purposes. It is unlikely to hurt other investment. What will it do to rents and house prices? The TWG concluded that it would lead to small upward pressure on rents and downward pressure on house prices. These impacts were likely to be small. The family home exemption, complexity, avoidance by the rich, effect onsmall business and holiday homes are also discussed.{jcomments off}