The energetic recent retiree was involved with Rotary, the Alternatives to Violence Project, the Community Organisations Grants Scheme, and his church among others.

But he has now stepped down from virtually all his charitable work because of what he sees as discrimination against volunteers by the tax department. Read more

Green Party spokesperson for housing Tamantha Paul said that houses shouldn't be left empty.

"If there's a house and it's safe to live in, then we should fill those houses. It's crazy that houses would sit abandoned when we have people sleeping in cars and on the street."

One tax that could be done is called an "empty home" tax.

An empty house tax like the name suggests is a tax imposed on houses that are left unoccupied for a certain length of time.

AUT senior lecturer of taxation Ranjana Gupta said that she believes an empty home tax is the answer. Read more

Ideally, it says, information classified as "restricted" should be hosted in a New Zealand-based data centre, where a suitable onshore service exists.

Yet for now, restricted information about New Zealand departments, businesses and residents is all being shipped offshore. Read more

But is this actually a good idea? And if not, what alternatives might there be to help people currently struggling to afford fruit and vegetables?

Supporters of removing GST argue the move will make healthy food more accessible for struggling families. Removing GST from fresh produce is also meant to help tackle New Zealand's persistent obesity epidemic - which accounts for 8.2% of total health expenditure (around NZ$135 million) annually.

It is a popular idea. In 2022, 76% of New Zealanders surveyed supported removing GST from food. But as some economists have warned, tinkering with the tax system might not actually deliver the desired results for low-income families. Put simply, those with the income to buy more fruit and vegetables - high-income households - will benefit the most from GST exemptions on fresh produce.
No agenda. Just facts.

New Zealand currently has one of the most comprehensive and effective goods and services tax systems globally. Any changes would require substantial evidence demonstrating the benefits of change.

Additionally, as many households struggle to cover costs, any additional cash gained from eliminating GST from fresh produce will go towards more pressing expenses like rent and power. If the government wants to fight obesity during a cost-of-living crisis, it needs to develop a more targeted approach.

Looking beyond GST

My research, to be published later this year, looks into the literature on GST and tax expenditure from New Zealand, Australia, the United States and United Kingdom. I examined how different countries use a variety of tax measures to help low-income families buy fruit and vegetables.

I wanted to examine whether dropping GST would help reduce obesity by making nutritious food more accessible. In fact, the literature suggests it does not significantly improve affordability and healthy eating choices for such families.

These households tended to allocate additional income (or tax saved) to other food or non-food items, such as meats, clothing or housing.

My study shows there are more targeted options within New Zealand's welfare system that can be used to help struggling families afford healthier foods.

Targeted assistance overseas

One option is to issue a GST refund on fresh fruit and vegetables purchased.

But there is no guarantee the extra money will be spent on purchasing healthy food. Similar to removing GST before purchase, the extra money will likely be diverted to other more pressing priorities, particularly in low-income households.

If the primary aim of making fresh fruit and vegetables more affordable is to increase healthy eating, then a cash rebate won't help. But there are policies in use overseas that New Zealand could use as a starting point to directly help low-income families afford fresh produce.

One particularly interesting option is the targeted smart-card system for buying fruit and vegetables. In the US, it's known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program scheme (SNAP), and in Britain as the Healthy Start scheme.

SNAP provides monthly funds for people to buy food using a benefit card (similar to a debit card) to buy groceries. They can't use it to buy non-food items or alcohol.

Healthy Start is for pregnant women and mothers with children under four to buy healthy food and milk, also delivered via a type of debit card.

What targeted help could look like

In New Zealand, we already have the food or hardship grants available through Work and Income. But these are only given in exceptional circumstances, and are limited to once every six months.

These food grants can also be used to buy anything an individual or family needs, including toiletries and other non-food items.

Introducing a regular and targeted healthy food grant via an electronic smart card would be a more effective way to ensure low-income families are able to access healthy food.

The cards could be protected with biometric data to prevent abuse or transfer. Eligibility criteria and account limits could be revised annually depending on the inflation rate to avoid any erosion of the card's value.

Other ways to encourage healthy eating

The literature shows that a targeted smart-card system could help reduce New Zealand's high obesity rate during the current cost of living crisis, if combined with an increase in education to prioritise healthy eating.

Instead of removing GST, the revenue gathered could be used to provide that extra nutritional information and education.

In 2013, the UK government implemented its "Healthy food for healthy outcomes" policy. Healthy food - and knowledge about nutrition - is treated as a vital element of school life and learning.

My research found that the costs of tampering with New Zealand's current GST system far outweigh the benefits likely to accrue from such a change. A targeted smart-card scheme is arguably a more effective measure to improve affordability and healthy eating habits - and the benefits would outweigh the setup costs.

In a recent statement, the pro-life advocacy group Right to Life argues that while taxpayers have a moral obligation to contribute their taxes, they should not be obligated to fund "the murder of the innocent."

The group asserts that while the government upholds the killing of the unborn as a "reproductive choice for women," it denies taxpayers the right to choose not to finance abortions.

The comments come in a Right to Life budget statement about abortion as healthcare.

Right to Life says the government should abandon the notion that abortion is a healthcare service. It should also cease using taxpayers' funds to support the termination of innocent lives.

The organisation calls for greater consideration of the sanctity of unborn life and the moral implications associated with allocating public funds towards abortion.

The group's comments respond to the New Zealand government's 2023 "Wellbeing Budget".

The budget claims to support the present while building for the future. However, Right to Life argues the government's future well-being focus does not align with safeguarding the welfare of unborn children.

The organisation states that since 1977, when abortion was declared a core health service by a National government, subsequent administrations have consistently classified abortion as such, granting the "health service" unlimited funding and eliminating waiting lists.

Highlighting that $13 million has been allocated in the budget to support an estimated 13,000 unwanted unborn children, the group argues that the government is not prioritising the wellbeing of unborn children.

Drawing attention to the significant increase in healthcare spending since 2017, with the vote health budget nearly doubling from $76 billion to $136 billion, Right to Life points out the incongruity in the health service, where essential healthcare services struggle to meet their objectives while the termination of unborn children receives unfettered financial support.

While Right to Life commends the government's aim to reduce child poverty, it implores the administration to recognise what it calls "the greatest poverty" - the denial of life for unborn children.

The organisation questions how the well-being of future generations can be effectively promoted when approximately one in five unborn children's lives are prematurely terminated, representing a significant proportion (20%) of the unborn population.

Source

• Supplied: Right to Life

Increased inequality and a worsening of the wealth gap are likely outcomes of the Official Cash Rate (OCR) falling below zero, warn ASB economists.

The ASB warns that from a longer-term perspective zero interest rates could actually create wider inequality within society.

"Monetary policy is a blunt instrument. Lower interest rates reward those able and willing to borrow and penalise those who save. They also tend to boost asset prices and the wealth of the ‘haves' relative to the ‘have nots,'" the bank says.

The impact of negative interest rates is particularly harsh for older New Zealanders who have worked and saved for their retirement.

News of negative interest rates comes as Green Party and Government minister, Julie Anne Genter told a Newstalk ZB small business panel discussion the Greens election tax policy would be a 'bottom-line' condition that must be met for her part to join into a coalition government with Labour.

The Greens election policies include a plan to make Kiwis with a net-worth greater than $1 million, for example, including the family home, shares, Kiwi-Saver, and savings, pay 1 percent of their wealth to the government as a tax.

Pressured to explain, Genter defended the policy saying it would only impact the wealthy.

However attempting to quell the uncertainty, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says "the wealth tax would be very difficult to implement," and confirmed that Finance Minister Grant Robertson has repeatedly ruled out a wealth tax.

Under some heat to comment, Green Party leader James Shaw said the Greens don't have bottom lines, but would advocate strongly for key policies if in a position to negotiate after the election.

As an alternative to negative interest rates and in terms of the overall economy, ASB economists say they prefer an overstimulated economy and toleration of a period of high inflation rather having the economy too "undercooked" and running the risk of deepening the downturn.

They say they expect the OCR to hold after dropping to zero and that it is unclear how easy it will be for the economy to extricate itself from the negative interest rate environment.

With the Reserve Bank of New Zealand likely to leave its current policy setting "untouched" negative interest rates are almost certain warns Kiwibank economist, Jarred Kerr.

"The reason interest rates are falling, and will likely go negative (for wholesale rates), is because the RBNZ (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) believes there is not enough stimulus in the economy to return us to full employment," he explained.

"If we had done too much, interest rates would be rising. The fact we haven't done enough means interest rates will keep falling. It's that simple."

Sources

• Newstalk ZB
• NZ Herald
• NZ Adviser

The Warehouse Group founder Sir Stephen Tindall and Hire Things founder Peter Torr Smith are two of 174 millionaires to have signed the document so far.

The open letter said: "Today, we, the undersigned millionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently."

The letter says as Covid-19 strikes the world, millionaires have a critical role to play.

"So please. Tax us. Tax us. Tax us. It is the right choice. It is the only choice."

"No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door."

"But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the future."

It goes on to stress that the pandemic crisis cannot be solved with charity alone - no matter how generous people around the world were.

They say it was the responsibility of governments and world leaders to raise the funds needed and to go onto spend and spread those funds out equally and fairly.

Statistics NZ in 2018 said while the wealthiest 20 per cent had seen their fortunes skyrocket, the wealth of the bottom 40 percent of Kiwis hadn't changed in years.

An Oxfam report, in 2018, found one per cent of New Zealanders own 28 per cent of new wealth generated the previous year - while the poorest 30 percent only got one percent of it.

Last month, the Green Party unveiled a Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) policy designed to address this inequality, which would be paid for by increasing taxes on the very wealthiest members of society.

They say it would raise $7.9 billion in its first year, "covering the GMI's costs."

The plan has been widely admonished, with members of National and ACT labelling it an "envy tax" and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying it makes "fairly heroic assumptions."

Read the letter "Millionaires for Humanity."

Source

• newshub.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: newshub.co.nz

It is a good time to look closely at household budgets and seek help if the budget doesn't balance.

• International crude oil prices have risen sharply.
• Global demand is still rising.
• Supply is increasing, but not fast.
• Sanctions on Iran could disrupt supply.

It is a mixed bag to say the least.

Rising oil prices, a falling exchange rate and rising taxes have increase the cost of fuelling up. This will affect households and businesses. Transport is deeply embedded in our economy.

Transport is also a necessity, rather than a luxury. When fuel prices increase it is hard to avoid. So the money spent on fuelling up increases, and other spending on nice-to-haves falls.

The price increases can also take a while to come through.

The cost at the pump increases quickly, but the cost of freight often take time.

This means that rising transport costs take a while to come through to the things we buy at the shops.

The increase in fuel prices joins the likes of rent, home ownership, rates, insurance, fruits and vegetables. They have risen faster than incomes in recent years.

Even though there are more jobs, and firms are finding it hard to recruit labour, wages have been rising at a modest pace.

There has been an uneasy truce.

Many businesses are finding it difficult to increase prices and keeping wage costs under control has been critical to ensure profitability and sustainability of businesses.

Increasing cost of necessities is squeezing households hard.

With wage increases harder to come by, many are working longer hours to make ends meet. A sudden increase in fuel prices makes it even harder.

The impact is inevitably largest on low income households, because they have so little discretion in their weekly budget.

An increase in the cost of necessities like rent and fuel can mean sacrificing on the groceries, or delaying purchasing clothes or even modest treats. Continue reading

• Image: Stuff
• Shamubeel Eaqub is an experienced economist who makes economics easy. He is also an author, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker.

Seventeen religious denominations - Christian and Jewish - are legally entitled to recover or be compensated for assets confiscated during the post-World War II Cold War.

As the largest denomination, the Catholic church is entitled to receive up to 80 percent of the compensation package.

The assets are valued at about 2.9 billion euros. They include about 40,000 hectares of land, a UNESCO-listed Baroque church, a castle and art works.

The religious groups are also entitled to financial compensation worth 59 billion koruna (about US$2.7 billion) for assets that can't be returned in kind.

The Party says the compensation is "excessive" and has presented a bill for it to be taxed at 19 percent from next year.

The bill is considered likely to pass because of the leverage the Party has with the new minority government of populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Babis relied on the Party's backing to win a confidence vote last week.

"It boggles the imagination," said Father Stanislav Pribyl, the secretary general of the Czech Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference.

"How can you impose a tax on this (compensation)? We are the creditor and the state is the debtor here!"

Believers are a minority in the Czech Republic's 10.6 million population.

About eight-and-a-half million people identified as non-believers left the religion column empty in the 2011 census.

Under communism, the Catholic church and others suffered severe persecution including the confiscation of property and the imprisonment, torture and killing of priests.

"The Communists have never cut themselves off from their past, they caused economic damage, ruined lives and people's health," Pribyl says.

"If these people now want to slap a tax on the compensation, which is a partial remedy for all that injustice, it's a scandal."

Communist lawmaker Vladimir Konicek, who is leading the tax bill, says "What is scandalous is the amount.

"In the end, they may get the payment and, if the court says yes, the assets too. So, they'll get it twice."

Source:

• CEBY Daily News
• La Croix
• Image: CzechTourism

Caritas Director Julianne Hickey says the agency supports the Government's stated intention in Budget 2015 to help families living in poverty, but says this needs to be prioritised over future tax cuts.

"The poorest New Zealanders did not benefit from the last tax cuts. The present day needs of vulnerable children and their families must be the priority for economic policy," Mrs Hickey says.

The Caritas submission also calls on the Committee to use the Budget 2015 process to deal with the economic impact of inequality that has increased in New Zealand over the past 30 years. Read more

Whether the poor also get poorer is another matter.

What would the taxi driver who took me across Beijing last year in a Toyota tricked out with three smartphones have said?

Not so long ago, he was driving a three-wheeled, pedal-powered rickshaw.

It's more a case of the poor getting richer too - but without political intervention, they'll never catch the rich.

In the English-speaking world particularly, still reeling from the global financial crisis and growing tired of a managerial elite whose salaries appear unstoppably stratospheric, Piketty's new, best-selling doorstop of a book - Capital in the Twenty-First Century - is altering the debate about wealth, income and the future of capitalism and is set to be Harvard University Press's all-time best-seller.

Piketty has reframed the discussion by combining, for the first time, data sources spanning more than three centuries to prove that those with accumulated wealth are almost guaranteed always to become richer than those who work for a living.

The distinction between wealth and income is important.

Although excessively high incomes for chief executives is a live political issue, and Piketty would tax them at a rate as high as 80%, the bigger issue is the inter-generational impact of wealth accumulation.

He proposes taxing such wealth at a rate of 0.1-0.5% for fortunes of less than €1 million ($1.6 million), 1% for fortunes from €1-5 million, 2% for €5-10 million and from 5-10% for fortunes in the hundreds of billions of euros.

Critics note that if he's calling $1.6 million a fortune, then Piketty is putting many of the developed world's homeowners in the same boat as the "one per cent" global elite.

However, most of the attacks on his findings focus on the proposed solutions rather than the quality of the research that animates his conclusions. Continue reading.

Source: The Listener

Image: Emmanuelle Marchadour/AP in The Guardian

"In a world that has made great strides in improving food production and distribution, far too many of God's children still go to bed hungry or suffer from a lack of nutrition, a tragedy that has lifelong consequences for health and educational achievement," they said.

The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States will hold their 2013 summit in the UK on June 17 and 18.

Continue reading

The same sources say that the tax status of Church properties has been resolved, with exemptions to be allowed for Catholic churches and cemeteries, but not for commercial buildings — such as gift shops and restaurants — that are attached to churches.

Negotiations between the Holy See and Israel have been under way, with stops and starts, since the "Fundamental Agreement" of 1993 that opening the way for Vatican recognition of Israel.

According to Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli, the Cenacle or Upper Room on Mount Zion would remain under Israeli state ownership. But the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land — which previously owned the building, and sought its return — would have administrative control over it.

This would mean that Catholics will be able to celebrate Mass there.

Tornielli reported that two issues which apparently remain unresolved are a parking lot on Mount Zion, near the Cenacle, and a place of worship in Caesarea, on the Israeli coast.

While the Custody is claiming ownership of the parking lot, the state of Israel says it cannot change the land's use as a car parking space, but in exchange it is offering the Custody a piece of land in different area.

At the archaeological site of Caesarea, the Latin Patriarchate had a small church dedicated to St Paul (who left from Caesarea to go to Rome).

When the state of Israel was created, the patriarchate was dispossessed of the land and the church was demolished. Now the Holy See would like to have a place of worship in the area.

Source:

Vatican Insider

Image: Seetheholyland.net

Under the existing law charitable organisations are allowed tax relief, and receive subsidies with no public benefit test holding them to account.

Gousmett says that while charities must make their financial accounts publicly available under the charities register they do not have to explain what they do to justify their charitable status.

Merely operating as a hospital or school is seen to meet the criteria of charitability because it relieves pressure on the public system, even if the charity is charging fees largely unaffordable to most people.

But Wall said charitable trusts that benefit only the wealthy were "creating divisions between the haves and the have-nots".

"Those who least need charity are benefiting the most. It is helping those who can afford to pay to go to private hospitals and private schools, not those who actually need the help.

"We as a country are giving these organisations up to $600m worth of tax relief under the assumption that $600m should be reinvested back into the community, and if that is not happening we desperately need to change the law".

In 2010 the Government announced its intention to undertake a first principles review of the Charities Act before 2015.

But last year Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew said that Government would not, for the time being, proceed with a review of the Charities Act 2005.

"The decision to not conduct a review for now reflects that the regulatory regime for charities is still bedding in and the continuing constrained fiscal environment," Goodhew said.

Wall fought against the disestablishment of the Charities Commission into the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) in 2012 and was outraged when the Government decided to quash a review of the Charities Act.

Social Development Partners, an organisation for community organisations, believes that relevant, modern definition of charitable purpose would provide huge support to the community sector.

They say community organisations are "struggling under multiple loads of ever-increasing demand and complexity in community needs, increased compliance and reduced funding."

"We need a modern definition in order to be able to function in a modern world."

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• National.org.nz
• socialdevelopment.org
• Image: Thomas.co.nz

Although Catholic clergy will not be affected by the change because they are not paid, a Catholic Church spokeswoman said the church was supporting the other denominations.

The church leaders will be asking Mr Dunne to instruct the IRD to do "further work" on the issue because it would change the way churches had paid taxes on accommodation provided to clergy for the past 56 years.

Dunne has confirmed Inland Revenue had outlined its view on the tax treatment of employer-provided accommodation last year and religious organisations fitted into that.

Source

• The Southland Times
• Image: RogerWendell.com

A statement from the NZ Government says it has decided that its Charities Commission is unnecessary, carrying out a duplication of functions of Government, and has ordered its ‘disestablishment'.

NZ State Services Minister Tony Ryall announced late last year the transfer of functions from the Charities Commission to the Department of Internal Affairs that will result in a saving of $2.032 million in the four years from 2012/2013.

The transition is expected to cost the Government $300,000.00.

"Decisions on charity registrations will remain independent from Ministers through a statutorily independent board in the Department of Internal Affairs," Minister Ryall said.

Bill d'Apice, Partner with Sydney-based law firm Makinson & d'Apice Lawyers says: "With the ACNC Implementation Task Force conducting its public consultations, it will be interesting to see whether the public is of the view that the Federal Government's expenditure on a separate commission established to carry out some of the functions of the Australian Taxation Office and some new functions related to transparency and education, justifies the expenditure of the Federal Government in Australia."

The New Zealand Charities Commission was set up for a period of four years and is the first Charities Commission of the nations of the Commonwealth to be disestablished.

Bill d'Apice is a principal legal advisor to the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference and advises many charities and Not for Profit organisations. He is immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors of Catholic Church Insurances Ltd and serves on a number of boards of public companies, private companies and Charities

Source

• ProBono News
• Image: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

It will mean the likes of convents that offer bed and breakfast, or church buildings that rent space to shops, pay their full share of taxes.

Prime Minister Mario Monti has asked all Italians to make unprecedented sacrifices as part of an austerity plan to thwart a crisis similiar to that in Greece.

Once law, the change could result in annual revenues of €600 million to €2.2 billion a year.

In December, 130,000 people signed an online petition calling on the government to revoke the church's tax-exempt status.

"It was time that they paid, too, with all the exemptions they've had throughout the years," Marco Catalano, 35, a shopkeeper in Rome, said. He goes to church twice a month. "They own the most beautiful buildings in downtown Rome, on Italian soil, and rent them out at market prices. They don't give them for free or at low prices for charity."

Many church buildings fall into a grey area, taking advantage of a tax exemption for religious organisation buildings even if they are largely commercial in use.

In a statement, the Italian Bishops Conference said, "We are waiting to find out the exact formulation of the text to be able to offer a more precise opinion."

Monti, a Catholic, is the latest in a string of Italian Prime Ministers and is following a regular pendulum of Prime Ministerial swings on the issue.

Sources

• NY Times
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Wind Rose Hotel

Criticism of the Church has grown following Premier Mario Monti's proposal to restore a property tax on first and second homes as part of sweeping austerity measures.

Ordinary Italians are being asked to make sacrifices and the Church is coming under fire to do its part to help rein in Italy's massive debt.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian bishops' conference, said Friday the church would be open to looking at the issue and remedying any individual "abuses" that might have occurred.

"The current norms are correct in that they recognize the social value of activities carried out by many non-profits, among them church ones," he said. "It's also correct that if there have been concrete cases in which a tax that should have been paid wasn't, we should verify the abuse and end it."

"The church should pay the IMU for commercial activities," said Cooperation and Integration Minister Andrea Riccardi, who is also the founder of the influential Catholic community Sant'Egidio.

The minister added there should be no "big confrontation" between Church and State on the issue of taxes.

"It's better to verify on a case-by-case basis and intervene only if there has been bad faith", he said.

The church has long insisted that it enjoys no special tax privileges, noting that nonprofit organizations, cultural associations, foreign embassies, Lutheran-owned churches and the synagogues of the Jewish community, are exempt from local property taxes.

However in 2006, Parliament extended a property tax exemption to cover buildings that weren't "exclusively" commercial, such as private health clinics or convents that host pilgrims.

That created a gray area where church-owned properties could conceivably carry out some commercial activities and still retain their tax-exempt status.

Sources

• Calgary Herald
• Washington Post
• Business Insider
• Image: City Pictures

It is not all that surprising that the city lost. The case looked rather weak.

The Court did not even get to the constitutional questions since they were able to rule for the Archdiocese based on the statutes.