One way in which the government may try to satisfy its “four conditions” for tax cuts is through a cut to the GST rate. However, any belief that a GST cut would be more likely to satisfy these four conditions than a cut in personal income tax rates is folly – something we aim to …
Category Archive: Government Policy
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/04/15/cullens-conditions-and-gst-rates/
Mar 28 2008
Biofuel regulation and carbon prices
From the Hive we see that the government may be having trouble getting its mandatory biofuel regulation through parliament. Anyone that knows me will know that this makes me glad, not because I’m a climate change denialist (I’m willing to trust the experts on this one), not because I’m concerned about biofuel not having a …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/28/biofuel-regulation-and-carbon-prices/
Mar 27 2008
Carbon taxes in the NYT
Lots of people are ripping in to Monica Prasad after her op-ed in the NYT on carbon taxes. She says that Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have had carbon taxes in place since the 1990s, but the tax has not led to large declines in emissions in most of these countries… [T]he insight they provide …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/27/carbon-taxes-in-the-nyt/
Mar 26 2008
Hard headed truths about pollution
I read recently about the Vélib’ program that Paris is running and what a boon it is for the environment. Apparently Ken Livingstone is keen on making London more bicycle friendly, and cities like Copenhagen are already full of cyclists. The decrease in pollution as a result of the reduction in cars must be quite …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/26/hard-headed-truths-about-pollution/
Mar 25 2008
Housing and the value of individuality
The government is introducing ways to reduce the compliance costs associated with building homes. By doing this, the government can increase the supply of properties, lowering the price of houses, and thereby increasing housing affordability. No doubt this will be an interesting policy to look over, however this is not what I am going to …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/25/houses-and-the-value-of-individuality/
Mar 10 2008
Vonnegut on taxation
In the comments for my post on taxing observable characteristics that are correlated with income, CPW asks what I think about Kurt Vonnegut’s tale of Harrison Bergeron. I don’t plan to venture into literary criticism which I have no expertise in, but I liked the story enough that I can’t resist posting on it!
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/03/10/vonnegut-on-taxation/
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