Letters: New Zealand’s low wages and our tax system; supermarket cameras; congestion charges and tolerance

Taxation and wages ... topics of discussion. Photo / NZME

Numerous correspondents to your pages advocate for reform to the tax system, specifically the moving of tax brackets to create a tax-free zone on the first $20,000 earned. The reason this is a bad idea in NZ is a large number of Kiwis earn below $50,000 a year. The Government cannot afford to give tax breaks to low-income earners because there are so many of them in our economy.

Unless we are to tolerate massive cuts to our public services, the tax system as it is can barely keep up with government spending now and into the near future. This is why radical reform of our taxing arrangements seems very unlikely.

P.J. Houlahan, Titirangi

Smile, you’re on camera

I was dismayed to read the article (NZ Herald, November 21) about trialling body cams to be used by checkout staff. I think it’s important to think about the larger question of what sort of society we want to live in here in New Zealand: a highly monitored one, or a place where attitudes are friendly and tolerant. The truth is many people are under a lot of pressure, and supermarkets will always have a dependent customer base. A friendly, welcoming smile at the checkout goes a lot further, for my money, than covert filming.

Ellie Carruthers, Grey Lynn

What not to read

Hundreds of books have been written on the art of negotiating. In the public interest it might be worth asking the three leaders what book they would recommend, assuming they have read one, so we can cross it off our list.

James Gregory, Parnell

Patient long enough

I found K. Ingram’s letter (NZ Herald, November 21) distasteful and threatening. He talks of the tolerance of the average NZer, whoever that is, but he appears to not have a clue about the tolerance shown by Māori, our tangata whenua, for the past 180 years!

Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed by more than 500 rangatira Māori in 1840. It guaranteed a partnership between Māori and the Crown, ie 50-50 representation in governmental decision-making. This has never happened and has been the cause of Māori disillusionment and disharmony.

Marama Davidson and Willie Jackson’s “utterances” are made on behalf of Māori people whose hearts have been broken by the deceit dealt them and the inequity that has resulted.

Now is the time to address these issues of inequity and to go forward as two cultures in harmony. Māori have been patient long enough.

Edith Cullen, Te Kauwhata

Enough of the complaining

I can’t wait for the new government to be formed because all the moaning about how long it’s taking to get sorted is becoming tiresome. How refreshing it will be when the faultfinders have something different to moan about.

Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth

Where does the money go?

What are the guarantees that the huge amount of money that will be raised by a congestion tax in Auckland will be used for transport improvements? Aucklanders have been subject to the regional fuel tax for years and would like to see how much was raised and how much of it actually got spent on roading improvements. The same applies to all the government fuel taxes.

Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki

We are the problem

Massey University’s Emeritus Professor Barry Scott says caulerpa seaweed “has got to be the most serious invasive species to impact on our natural environment that I have seen” (NZ Herald, November 20). I claim that dubious honour for homo sapiens.

Rex McGregor, Auckland

A heavy load

For all of those who think that the congestion experienced at Westfield Newmarket would have been avoided if everyone took a bus or train, people’s shopping would be restricted by how much they are able to carry. Shops would start complaining their sales are down.

K.S. Agar, Ōnehunga