Who’s afraid of the big bad tax

Was it Peters or was it Ardern that killed the big bad CGT? We may never know the truth. Peters claimed a win, Bridges claimed a win, Shaw claimed a fail and HDPA suggests that it was Labour that killed the golden goose.

Let’s stop with this nonsense of blaming New Zealand First for killing off the capital gains tax.

NZ First didn’t kill it off. Labour did.

Labour killed it off the moment they stopped fighting for it. And that was pretty much the moment Labour got into Government.

Labour gave up on this policy long ago. They euthanised it through neglect.

If they really wanted to introduce a capital gains tax, they would’ve fought for it.

Why didn’t Jacinda Ardern try to convince the public about this tax? Apart from one short statement in a post-Cabinet press conference last month, I can’t recall any passionate defence of the CGT from her. Ardern was AWOL in the debate. She loves a good Facebook Live. Where was the eight-minute Facebook Live explaining why it was her answer to New Zealand’s inequality?

Ardern is one of the most gifted communicators of her generation. She could’ve sold the CGT to New Zealand. Or at least tried. […]

Really, Heather? Really? Have you actually listened to an interview when Ardern did not have a script?  Unless ‘her generation’ is comprised of  two people, one of whom is mute, I suspect a touch of hyperbole there.

Then look at what happened the day after Ardern killed off the tax. She didn’t front up for early morning radio and TV interviews. She left the mop-up job to Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Revenue Minister Stuart Nash. Her office says she was leaving the more detailed questions about next steps to them. I think she clearly wasn’t prepared to take any more heat on it. She mic-dropped and walked away.

Perhaps the reason Ardern ran and hid was that she cannot grasp difficult concepts like CGT, GDP and government accounts.  She had once heard the phrase ‘capital gains tax’ and got all excited as it had comrade socialists favourite word in it. Tax.

Labour voters have a right to feel cross at this backdown. They voted for a party that swore by a CGT. For three terms Labour said a CGT was crucial. And then, when the party got the chance, they lost their nerve. Labour has sold out their own voters. […]

And so much for being a transformational government. Ardern and Robertson can call themselves transformational all they like but at the first opportunity to really transform the country they ran a mile.

What’s transformational about this Government? Child poverty is worse. Homeless numbers have increased.

Careful, Heather. We cannot have the lefty media sowing discord about our Dear Leader.  Couldn’t you roll out a magazine cover or baby picture?

They say they’ve delivered but they haven’t really delivered much. Sure they’ve handed out free university education and the winter energy payment, I’ll give them that. Middle-class white kids send their thanks, as do all the retired couples in Remuera and Khandallah who enjoy the help paying their electricity bills.

Let’s see this for what it is. It’s a retreat from a policy that Labour must’ve known would make it harder to win the 2020 election. This is a cynical political decision.

You know how you know that? Because Jacinda Ardern didn’t just rule out a CGT this term while NZ First is still there to oppose it. She ruled it out for the rest of her leadership. If she really believed in a CGT, and really wanted to do it, she would have left that door open to try again once NZ First are out of the picture. She’d have done that if she really wanted a CGT. […]

A newspaper