Wednesday, 08 May 2024 14:55

Reality check

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: Your canine crusader gets a little fed up with the some in media, union hacks, opposition politicians and hard-core lefty whiners who claim the answer to all the country’s current financial woes is to tax the rich even more.

This is despite findings of a research paper by the NZ Treasury, based on data from the fiscal year ending March 2019, that the top 20% of income earners paid most of the taxes.

The research found that while Wellington collected over $40b in income taxes from individuals, it was the top 20% of earners who contributed more than 50% of that total amount.

As Professor of Public Policy at Victoria University Arthur Grimes points out, the public might not know, but a small percentage of high-income earners pay the majority of tax revenue, while “most people at the poor end are net recipients from the government”.

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As Stuff notes, “It wasn’t the Playboy cover which caused offence. No, it was the back page which… featured an advert for a cigarette brand”.

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