Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Letter to the Editor Thursday, September 25, 2014

By Rosie Dawson-Hewes
Northland Age·
24 Sep, 2014 09:04 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Scrap GSTThis week's Sunday programme (TV1) featured the demise of rural towns. While internet purchases are affecting smaller retailers, large New Zealand-owned and overseas-owned retail chains operating mega-stores are also a significant cause.

Why not scrap GST? The removal of GST would provide an increase in purchasing power for all households and generate more economic activity, giving our towns a much-needed boost.

This would immediately put New Zealand retailers on a more equal footing with overseas online suppliers, as purchases from them don't currently have GST applied.

Business would no longer have the compliance costs involved with filing GST returns. The tax revenue lost from scrapping GST ($15 per $100) could be replaced by a transactions tax of 10c per $100 on withdrawals from all bank accounts, automatically deducted by banks in the same way as account fees are now.

The new tax would hit the paper-shufflers on the money and financial markets (average of $13 billion traded every day) who make large profits from speculating on small movements in currency rates, and would encourage more investment in productive businesses instead.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Additionally, as recommended by the International Monetary Fund report of August 2012, funding local government capital works through no-interest loans from the Reserve Bank would see the millions each year currently paid by our council in interest available for rates reduction, improving the quality of our retail environment or much-needed infrastructure.

CHRIS LEITCH Whangarei Candidate

Democrats for Social Credit

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

'Nothing short of inspiring': Air NZ boosts Northland nature projects

20 May 11:00 PM
Northland Age

News in brief: New way of recycling for Kerikeri, firefighters win in challenge

20 May 10:54 PM
Northland Age

'Top dollar for no services': Residents decry council neglect

17 May 04:00 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

'Nothing short of inspiring': Air NZ boosts Northland nature projects

'Nothing short of inspiring': Air NZ boosts Northland nature projects

20 May 11:00 PM

Eight Northland nature projects by schools, hapū and landcare groups share $50,000.

News in brief: New way of recycling for Kerikeri, firefighters win in challenge

News in brief: New way of recycling for Kerikeri, firefighters win in challenge

20 May 10:54 PM
'Top dollar for no services': Residents decry council neglect

'Top dollar for no services': Residents decry council neglect

17 May 04:00 AM
'Radical change': Possible crayfish ban for Northland's east coast

'Radical change': Possible crayfish ban for Northland's east coast

16 May 05:00 PM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP