Losing our direction

From the archives. Way down at the end of the world is New Zealand, a country that needs to find ways to remain a viable, first world place to live. A country whose light shines for everyone to see, who wants an image of ‘being green’, environmentally friendly and the home of the All Blacks. New Zealand has fine wines, great scenery and a way of life which is seen as settled and without (fortunately) traumas which occur just about everywhere else. Think civil war, tsunamis, oil spills, massive financial upheaval (Greece and Spain) and a change of government every other year in Japan. The truth is actually more brutal than we think. New Zealand is a country which is just about too expensive to live in. The National government,  when in power,  embarked on reforms which made the average New Zealander poorer in the pocket. These reforms include the Environmental Trading Scheme (ETS) tax and an increase in the Goods and Service Tax (GST due to become law on 1 October. It is time for Kiwis to stop the moaning about GST and do something about it. A proposed Bill by the Maori Party suggesting no GST on healthy foods is commendable. In Australia and Great Britain a GST tax does not apply to all that the consumer buys. But government cannot consider this proposed Bill because – wait for it – it is too much work. Which really means reduced revenue will come our way! We need a more caring approach to people instead of government expecting everyone to go along with the changes because they say so. The whole GST system needs urgent consideration – an overhaul- and the extra five percent increase from 1 October is enough to send people over the wall – or over […]