Letters: Listen to the young, tax exemption and genetic engineering

Jeremy Clarkson once said of Greta Thunberg that he found it difficult to listen to anything she said because she was " little more than a zygote” (BBC QI programme). However, we should listen more to the young. Photo / AP

We should listen more to young

Jeremy Clarkson once said of Greta Thunberg that he found it difficult to listen to anything she said because she was " little more than a zygote” (BBC QI programme). However, we should listen more to the young. They have not “matured” as older people have. Therefore they haven’t learned to avoid offending this group or upsetting that group and they don’t have to think about what they lose in reputation, vocation or remuneration if they say something controversial. They are idealistic and are unencumbered with the weight of the other considerations. “Out of the mouths of babes [comes truth and wisdom]” is a modern take on a biblical Psalm and has weight here. So when the young people once again go into the streets to bring their future to our attention, I think we need to respect their unique position to be able to be truthful and impart information some of us are not readily able to accept. We need to put the weight of our current responsibilities and the potential sacrifices we may need to make to one side in order to listen and deal with a real problem the young are bringing to our attention. Niall Robertson, Balmoral.

Budget balance

I’m an Auckland ratepayer (residential) for 50+ years. Huge thanks to Mayor Wayne Brown and all the councillors who laboured together to deliver a budget which begins to pay down the horrendous debt racked up in recent years. I particularly thank the councillors who longed to retain Auckland’s airport shares, but negotiated nonetheless to enable an outcome which did not sink us into more debt. I hope future satisfaction and pride in what you have achieved for our city will eventually outweigh your present sense of loss. Thank you Wayne for your patience and negotiating skills. Auckland is now on a fiscally responsible road to healthier financial status. This Aucklander will probably sleep easier at night. Maxine Nisbet, Mt Eden.

Conflict of interest

Much has been made of Michael Wood and his conflict of interest because he owned a small number of airport shares. The Opposition has already declared that when they are in government, they will allow interest on rental properties to be tax deductible and will substantially reduce the period for resale of houses to be free of capital gains tax. I assume that those Opposition MPs who own multiple houses and who will personally benefit financially from these changes will be required to sell all of their investment and rental properties to avoid a similar conflict of interest. The same rules should be applied to all ministers, no matter which parties are in power. Tony Barker, Glenfield.

Beltway-bound

Well said Bruce Cotterill, (Weekend Herald, June 10) opinion piece. He hit the nail on the head regarding how few of our current politicians have actual real-world experience outside of the closeted political environment they live in. The beltway is not the real world for the majority of New Zealanders. More people in Parliament who can do and fewer who can only tell others what to do might be a good place to start. James Archibald, Birkenhead.

Naked ambition

Sir John Key cannot see past his own avarice to talk about ambition. Anyone dedicating a life to accumulating wealth has wasted a life. He talks about his ambition to be PM and that anyone can do it. How deluded is he? Is he saying that Sir Edmund Hillary had no ambition because he didn’t make a truckload of money? Ambition used wisely would make one want to be a good foster parent, help the environment, build tiny homes, work with the underprivileged, protest fossil fuel abusers etc etc, NOT wealth accumulation without paying one’s fair share of tax. If minimum wage workers can pay tax that they cannot afford, the uber-wealthy can pay tax that they can afford. Sean Kelly, Thames.

Wealth tax

The threshold suggested by the Greens is too low. The following may be more acceptable to the wealthy. Those with assets of, say, $15 million to pay 2 per cent of their asset value exceeding $15m every year as asset tax. The family home to be exempt from the calculation of wealth. The first $25,000 of any type of income to be universally exempt from any tax. Who will bell the cat? Sivaswamy Mohanakrishnan, Mt Roskill.

Tax exemption

Can the Greens now please declare who will be exempted from their proposed wealth tax. When first mooted, they said Māori trusts would be exempted, yet many of these are trusts that have accumulated wealth worth billions, and many are already exempted from income tax and GST. If you’re taxing wealth, then tax ALL wealth. Glenn Clark, Waipu.

Population growth

Christopher Luxon’s lighthearted remark that we need to have more babies does highlight another problem that this country has faced for several decades. The dilemma is that our infrastructure has not kept with the increase in population. Since 1960 our population has gone from 2.37 million to 5.2m, an increase of 116 per cent. For example, in 1960 the Auckland Harbour Bridge had only been open a few months and 60 years later, with the population doubled, only band aid aids like the clip-on lanes have been applied. Housing is in a similar trough and its associated infrastructure sadly neglected. We seem to wait until we have nearly reached the point of no return until we suddenly stop talking about it and actually do something. There is no doubt that this country could do with more people but there has to be a plan that incorporates where they are going to live. The biggest issue of course is how to pay for improvement and that is dominated by tax revenue. Our top tax rates are well below Australia and the United Kingdom and of course, unlike those two countries, we have no capital gains tax. Rather than tax cuts, this country needs to face reality and do the hard yards, otherwise our long-running predicaments will never improve. Reg Dempster, Albany.

Auckland’s malaise

Any Aucklander with a north-facing lounge and deck will now be basking in winter sun as a gift from heaven and can may continue doing so for up to a third of New Zealand’s winter. Soulless autocrats in Wellington would deem that Aucklanders live in high-rise high-density housing with front lounges facing south and in many cases totally in the shade so that warming is entirely dependent on electricity. To make matters worse, these abominations are creeping into Auckland’s most pristine suburban environments, blocking out the sun and distressing the owners of once-prized properties on either side. Much of Auckland’s decline, be it sun-starved housing, polluted beaches, gridlocked motorways, ram raids, or the Hauraki Gulf, can be traced to directives emanating from Wellington and bureaucrats who don’t give a fig about the fate of Auckland as long as it’s not in their backyard. The solution is simple and practicable: declare Auckland to have its own federal government for Aucklanders of Aucklanders and by Aucklanders, without which much of Auckland will become a faceless concrete jungle occupied in the main by anxiety-ridden, transport-deprived citizens, dropping dead in vast numbers from air pollution, deprived of the natural world and wider social interaction, with suicides and deteriorating mental health — all of which awaits the coming generation if we are continued to be ruled by soulless autocrats ensconced in the Beehive. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Health reforms

Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, June 10) appears to miss the point when he states centralisation of the health service is not as important as making sure that people get the medical attention they need, and then stating, without evidence, it isn’t helping. One of the main drives for the change is to ensure equitable access to healthcare that is funded, but with such a large shift, it will not happen overnight. Alan Johnson, Papatoetoe

Genetic engineering

National wanting to end the ban on genetic engineering is totally in line with their party policy. Take something that tastes just fine but looks ugly, spend millions on making it look more appealing, then present it as flash and new but with the same taste, which after spending millions of our own money usually tends to leave a sour taste in the mouth. Jim McCormick, Gisborne

Short & Sweet

On the Blues

Having beaten the Waratahs so comprehensively this weekend, the Blues seem to be on a roll to the finals. The true test though will come on Friday when they meet the Crusaders, a team that the Blues have only once beaten in Christchurch in 19 years. Time alone will tell. Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.

On Michael Wood

There are two sides to every story. Can Michael Wood please tell the voters why he didn’t sell his Auckland Airport shares. If the answer is reasonable, he can stay, otherwise, he goes. Rosemary Balme, Howick.

Could the two literary duellists holster their wine and report to the naughty corner with Michael Wood? Mary Hearn, Glendowie.

On Jacinda Ardern

What will Jacinda’s upcoming book be? Fact or fiction? Will she get Harry’s ghost writer to assist? Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.

With the windfall due to Dame Jacinda from the publication of her autobiography it is to be hoped that she will donate the proceeds to her pet cause; ie the abolition of child poverty. Gavin Baker, Glendowie.

The Premium Debate

Liam Dann: If we skip recession, does that let the Government off the hook?

Our economic and cost-of-living situation is getting worse as our trade deficit shows with falling export returns. Recession or not, we are still on the downward slope and there are no signs of an upturn. It’s going to take years to recover from the reckless borrow and spending spree of the past few years. David S.

GDP is an inappropriate measure of economic health in times of high inflation. The real measure is net growth — that is, is the population of a country financially better off than they were? Keith T.

The Government is taking us backward. The cost of good, healthy food is prohibitive plus insurance has increased hugely. Mortgage rates are not sustainable. Kirsty G.

We have lots of technical terms for things, etc, but the bottom line is what it costs at the supermarket, petrol station, household mortgage rates, local body rates, etc, and how these relate directly to your actual after-tax and the GST you then have to pay on top of everything you buy. Add in personal debt and debt that the Government has incurred on your behalf, New Zealanders are a lot poorer than they think and their spending power very much diminished. Guy M.

Recession is a technical term that is hard to judge for many. But simple things like pay disappearing to rising interest rates, tomatoes at $14 per kilo and the petrol subsidy about to vanish, show the economic disaster clearly. Tim T.