Land Tax- what will the Government do?

Farmers make a huge contribution to the NZ economy.

The Tax Working Group (“TWG”)  looked at tax reform with a recommendation to introduce a  land tax!!

The TWG  focused on taxing real property because investment in land is harmful to economic growth.  Yeah, right.  So is high income tax and uncontrolled Government spending.

And how can we trust the recommendation of the TWG with Mark Weldon, NZX Limited, Gareth Morgan, Gareth Morgan Investments Limited, and a bevy of accountants as members.  Do the members of the TWG understand that most farmers do not earn enough off the land to pay tax.

I ask you. When is the Government (or for that matter the citizens of this country) going to recognise the contribution made by the farmers?  And back off.

Why should farmers be penalised for the bad investment habits of the townies.

In the past a National Government protected farming and farmers. The Government are wary about the political backlash of introducing a capital gains tax.   Farmers should be up in arms about an annual land tax on farm land.

If land tax is introduced, then it would be important to  relieve the land tax burden by imposing an exemption levy of say $50,000 per hectare which would have the effect of excluding a tax burden for most farmers.

Now that the Government has intervened to effectively prevent the dairy farm conversion at the MacKenzie Basin can we trust them not to introduce a tax which would limit the amount of money available to the rural sector for more development and growth.

I cannot believe that John Key agreed to allow Nick Smith to intervene: but this is the subject of another blog.