29 Aug 2017

Know your policy: Economy

From Election17 - Policy Comparisons, 1:04 pm on 29 August 2017

Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

Continue to negotiate a free trade deal with the European Union and work closely with the United Kingdom on trade matters
Continue to negotiate on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Increase the $14,000 income tax threshold to $22,000, and the $48,000 threshold to $52,000
Reduce compliance costs and make tax simpler for small businesses by implementing a pay-as-you-go option for provisional tax
Roll out faster broadband across New Zealand
Contractors would be able to choose a withholding tax rate that suits their needs

Photo: RNZ/Diego Opatowski

Invest $8 billion more in health, $4 billion in education and increase police funding to recruit 1000 additional officers
Reduce net core Crown debt to 20 percent of gross domestic product within five years of taking office
Abolish secondary tax and establish a tax working group to create a better balanced tax system
Introduce flexible approach to withholding tax
Raise the threshold for individuals and businesses to pay provisional tax from $2500 to $5000
Remove late payment penalties on provisional tax
Crack down on speculators by banning overseas speculators from buying existing houses and tightening the tax rules that speculators exploit
Boost Working for Families to all those who currently receive it and extend it to 30,000 more families
Introduce a Best Start payment to help families and introduce a Winter Energy Payment for people receiving superannuation or a main benefit
Reinstate the Independent Earners' Tax Credit
Implement the accommodation supplement increases announced in Budget 2017
Restart contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund
Establish a new Forestry Service in Rotorua to encourage more investment in wood processing and manufacturing.

Introduce a tax-free threshold at the bottom of the income tax scale and then reduce and simplify rates in the middle bands
Pass tax cuts on to beneficiaries
Introduce a comprehensive capital gains tax
Introduce a commercial levy on the bottling of plain water
Begin a phased process of ecological tax reform
Incentivise businesses to choose clean transport options for staff by exempting electric vehicles and public transport passes from fringe benefit tax
Establish a Minister for Manufacturing in Cabinet
Make electricity more affordable with winter energy payments for more than 500,000 lower-income households
Make the $220 per week parental tax credit available to all families who don't get paid parental leave
Better coordination of monetary and fiscal policy
Introduce measures to limit house price inflation
Consider a more actively managed exchange rate
Require all international treaties to be voted on in Parliament before being signed

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

Reform the Reserve Bank Act to reflect that New Zealand has an export-dependent economy
Introduce a 20 percent business tax rate for exporters
Give a high priority to maintaining and building the manufacturing sector
Introduce a government procurement policy that gives preference for New Zealand firms
Provide tax incentives for businesses to engage in research and development
A state-owned saving scheme, KiwiFund, so New Zealanders can invest in New Zealand assets and infrastructure
Establish priorities for foreign investment in New Zealand that require such investment to bring new technology and lead to employment and export growth or import substitution
Impose strict controls over foreign ownership and create a register of overseas ownership of land and property
Restrict ownership of houses and land, including farmland, to New Zealand citizens and permanent residents
Ensure that 25 percent of the royalties paid on extraction of minerals is placed in a fund for use in regional development in the region of extraction
Stop further state asset sales and commit to buying back the state asset shares that were sold

Cut company tax to 25 percent, and lower personal income tax to between 10 and 25 percent
Start raising the age of superannuation entitlement in 2020, lifting it by two months per year
Scrap the 'charitable purpose' tax loophole
Champion free trade agreements
Reform the Resource Management Act to make it easier for New Zealand businesses to operate and grow
Maintain spending on core services such as health, police, welfare and education

Transfer NZ rail assets to iwi to develop a national railway network
Set up a consortium of iwi, Māori land trusts and corporations to invest in major economic development opportunities
Set up a Māori bank to administer housing, land development and business start-up loans
Invest further in supporting Māori tourism business opportunities
Lead a government-subsidised solar energy installation scheme for all low income families and rurally isolated communities

To be confirmed

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