This is edition 2025/90 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Welcome back. It's 2025 and 20 years since I started writing about politics and anything else that took my fancy. Thank to my VIP members for making this site what it is today. In July we will be having a 20th birthday celebration. Stay tuned for more announcements.
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. “Investment Boost” or “Corporate Welfare”?
Bryce Edwards
- 💼 The 2025 Budget introduces the "Investment Boost," allowing businesses to deduct 20% of new asset costs immediately.
- 📈 Aimed at boosting investment, productivity, and wage growth, it lacks a cap on deductions, potentially leading to limitless subsidies.
- 🧮 Finance Minister Nicola Willis allocated $6.6 billion over four years, emphasizing the uncapped nature of the scheme.
- 🏢 Commercial and industrial buildings, along with oil and gas assets, qualify, despite controversies over broad eligibility.
- 🌍 Widely criticized for its generosity, it includes sectors like petroleum, raising concerns about fiscal prudence and industry influence.
- 💼 Cheered on by corporate lobbyists and business elites: BusinessNZ Chief Executive Katherine Rich and other lobbyists praised the Investment Boost as forward-looking and beneficial for competitiveness.
- 🏛️ Lobbying, favours and conflicts behind the scenes: Various industry groups and consultants influenced the policy's design, pushing for broad tax incentives favoring their sectors.
- 🌍 More generous than the world – and riskier: New Zealand's Investment Boost is unusually generous and lacks limits, potentially leading to significant fiscal risks and benefiting large businesses disproportionately.
- 💰 Paid for on the backs of workers and public services: The Budget cuts social spending while funding the corporate tax break, highlighting a stark prioritization of business interests over public welfare.
- 🕵️ Integrity and democracy under question: The policy's implementation raises concerns about undue influence from lobbyists and donors, undermining public trust in democratic governance.
