This Thursday night Professor Craig Elliffe and Chye-Ching Huang of Auckland University Business School will present a lecture on Capital Gains Tax.

The elephant in the room for the 2009-2010 Tax Working Group was the prospect of a capital gains tax and/or land tax. For more than 40 years we have debated a capital gains tax and keep throwing a sheet over the elephant. 

The exemption for capital gains is a glaring exception to New Zealand's typical "broad base, low rate" approach to taxation. Generally we have preferred to eliminate tax breaks for particular types of income in favour of across-the-board cuts to rates. The benefits of a capital gains tax are well known, generally uncontested, and extremely attractive.

Their recent contributions to public debate on this issue have stirred considerable interest. This free lecture will attempt to pull the sheet off the elephant. More details here and registration here.