Investing for the long term

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

New Zealand’s problem has been that we fail to see some long-term spending as an effective use of taxpayer money. 
Money spent on increasing incomes, building houses, education, vocational training, tertiary education, primary healthcare, science, research and development will have long-term gains.
If the drivers of crime are addressed and if people are better educated, they’ll have better jobs and we’ll see more innovation. 
If people are healthier there will be reduced crime and with greater investment in primary healthcare and dental care there will be fewer long-term heath conditions. 
Money will be saved, people will be more productive and there will be better jobs and future economic savings and value.
We can’t afford the continuing tax cuts which have caused the wealthiest Kiwis to pay only 9 cents in the dollar for tax while the poorest pay 20 cents in a dollar.
Our economy is one of the best in the OECD, our debt is lower than most, we have low unemployment. We should be pouring money into fixing our public services and infrastructure and housing, so people can fully participate in our society and there will be a reduction of need into the future. 
Tax cuts and penny pinching have caused so many problems in the above areas but also made 99 percent of us poorer, while the few have got so much more than they need. 
It can take generations to embed changes and we should persevere. Our government has started and we should not agree to go backwards again.
Mary-Ann de Kort