Labour's GST-free fruit and vegetables tax policy is being widely panned by experts, who say it is betting on voters' ignorance.
  • @Rangelus
    5•11 months ago

    I also think restructuring the tax brackets, including a 0% tax bracket, is something that is sorely needed. Adding a tax free threshold of, say, $20,000 would make a huge difference for those on minimum wage.

    • @DaveMA
      4•11 months ago

      I’d think the easiest would be to just update the lowest tax bracket to 0% (I think this is under $14k?).

      If we are going to change a bracket to $20k, then let’s do an across the board update (e.g. 0% under $20k, 20% under $70k, 30% under $150k, 40% for $150k and up - I just made these up on the spot, they would need to be properly balanced against expected revenue by a working group).

      But if we’re just going for a quick election bribe, make the $14k and under bracket 0% and leave the rest.

      • @Rangelus
        4•11 months ago

        In my perfect, dictatorship world, I would do both. I would find some value that fits the “bare minimum” income someone could make. This could be 0.5FTE at minimum wage, for example, and set that as 0%. I would then fix the tax brackets to inflation, add an extra bracket to the top 1-2% income earners. I would lower GST back to 12.5%, enact a CGT (which I prefer over a wealth tax if it targets assets), and tinker with teh rest of the tax code to close as many loopholes as possible.