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In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

An occasional column for the Dominion Post newspaper

If the price of a flatscreen TV rose $30, would it stop you from buying it?  The recent changes in GST and personal income tax rates are too small to have anything but a small effect on our spending and investment habits. A bolder shift in our taxation system is needed to reward productivity and boost economic growth writes Jean-Pierre de Raad.

Would you pay over $300 to ensure native birds remain at a single lake, even if you lived far away?  Maybe, or maybe not. But recent debates on mining and hydro-power developments show comparing the benefit of different uses of environmental assets is both difficult and controversial.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

Personal tax cuts from 1 October 2010 will boost take home pay for New Zealand workers. NZIER has updated its personal tax calculators to allow comparison with Australia.
New Zealand’s new personal tax regime is less onerous for high income earners than Australia’s. But as Australia’s average weekly wage is about 40% higher in Australia, a typical family is much better off in Australia if disposable income is the measure. Our model family’s after tax income is 33% higher in Australia.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

Globalisation does not rest easily with all. Recent public and political outcries over foreign investment in our farms and manufacturing plants attest to this. A recent TV3 poll indicates that over three-quarters of Kiwis want overseas investment rules tightened, and the Prime Minister is concerned about “the risk that New Zealanders become tenants in their own land” (NZPA 9 August 2010).

But restricting overseas investors’ access to the NZ economy, or certain sectors in it, is a damaging policy prescription. It would increase our country risk premium, causing borrowing costs to rise for households, firms and the government.

Presentation to the 2010 ITF annual conference : Vocational skills : Growing New Zealand, 28 & 29 July 2010.
by Sharon Pells (NZIER), John Blakey, and Erica Cumming.

Link to presentation (Session 8)

Report to Competenz, June 2010 (link is to Competenz's website)