If rates installments aren't paid in full by the due date, the Auckland Council charges 10 per cent of any amount owing. Any unpaid rates and penalties at the end of the rating year attract a further charge of 10 per cent on the outstanding amount. Photo / Kenny Rodger
Crippling interest
So owners are on the warpath after apartment rates skyrocket (NZ Herald, August 11). I wish them well. Penalties for rates paid after the quarter’s due date are another form of abuse towards those struggling to pay. My quarterly rates ($730), due 30 June, were a month late due to circumstances. The council staff refused to discuss a solution for my short-term problem. I was charged a 10 per cent penalty, making the new total $806. Then, after I had paid that, I received another penalty of 10 per cent on top of the $830 paid. Rates penalties clearly compound monthly. If a citizen could not pay the $730, their penalty would compound by 10 per cent monthly. After 12 months, the total compounded penalties on the $730 would be $1561.05. This is a true interest rate of about 213 per cent. If annual rates are paid within the first quarter, there is a discount of 2.06 per cent p.a. - less than one-hundredth of the interest council charges annually if rates are delayed. Ironically, my financial stress resulted from flooding due to council drains being inadequate due to subdivisions around me.
Merilyn McAuslin, Mt Eden.
Arrivals gait
All this talk of “record” numbers of New Zealanders moving to Australia needs a reality check because it’s simply not true. The net migration loss of Kiwis to Australia averaged over 27,000 a year during the John Key years. It hit a record-high net loss of over 44,000 in 2012. That turned into a small gain to New Zealand in 2021 of 1800 during the Covid pandemic restrictions. The past year shows about 33,000 Kiwis moving to Australia and 20,000 Aussies moving here. A net New Zealand loss of about 13,000. Yes, it’s the highest for the past few years but way below the annual net loss to Australia during the decade of the last National Government. We are also experiencing record-high immigration to New Zealand from around the world. A net gain over the past year of 86,800 overall. Claims that high numbers of Kiwis are fleeing our shores simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland Central.
Montana suit
From a country offering the world a bizarre view of political discord at the moment, Trump v the Constitution, America’s state of Montana delivers a gift to the world, one that now needs to be put into action everywhere. Climate activists have won a “landmark case”, (NZ Herald, August 16), a “groundbreaking” legal victory against government support for oil, gas, and coal; giving legality to litigate against cities and states and fossil fuel companies. It has been seen as their “constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment”. After a summer of climate disasters around the world, legal action by activists everywhere began demanding those fuel companies - with full knowledge of what they were doing - be sued for their failure to protect the planet. With a Montana judge giving a legal right to this claim, we should all be challenging governments and fuel companies everywhere. It’s a right we should have had long before now.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Election enticements
In this coming election, political parties are making promises that do not meet the economic criteria, be it fiddling with GST, the tax system, parental benefits, etc. Should political parties be allowed to make such promises once an election process is under way? Should not New Zealand have model election codes, preventing politicians from making promises that are nothing less than indirect bribes or allurement? Should not the New Zealand Electoral Commission take suo moto cognisance of this and prevent politicians/political parties from making such allurements to influence voters?
Sagar S. Singh, Northpark.
Too simple?
I have hesitated to write on this subject, as I felt that I must be missing something. However when I read the letter from Pauline Murray of Henderson (NZ Herald, August 16), maybe I am not as stupid as I think I am. She has to be right - reducing GST to 10 per cent would bring down the cost of everything and incur no extra administrative costs. However, this may be too simple a solution for the Government. It would, of course, have less money to throw around - this also may be a very good thing.
Geraldine Taylor, Remuera.
Marketing opportunity
Across multiple news outlets, including the Herald, there has been much comment about GST on fruit and vegetables. Thus far I’ve not seen any comment on what marketing strategies retailers would adopt in the event of GST removal. Any marketer worth their salary would be salivating at the sales opportunities. The slogan: “A genuine 15 per cent off all fresh fruit and veg” would be an obvious opening gambit. Have we become so bureaucracy-addled that we see no role for the market?
Rob Harris, Dannevirke.
Fair’s fare
I disagree with V.M. Fergusson’s letter (NZ Herald, August 17): GST is a very fair tax. For example, if a poor person buys an $11,500 car, they are paying GST of $1725. If a wealthy person buys a $172,500 car, they are paying $25,875 in GST. If a poor person buys a takeaway meal for $20, they are paying $3 in GST. If a wealthy person goes out for dinner and spends $200, they pay $30 in GST. Rich and poor pay the same rate of GST but each makes a different contribution to tax.
Estelle Martin, Pt Wells.
Lock, stock
With all the stolen cars being taken by the ram raiders it must be costing the insurance companies a fortune - plus all the damages to the shops. Why have the insurance companies not required people who park on the roadside to fit a simple, inexpensive, old-fashioned steering-wheel lock? It would quickly reduce the number of stolen cars as the thieves would have to cut the steering wheel to release the lock, which would render the vehicle undriveable. At present, they are away in a couple of minutes. No car, no ram raids.
Jock MacVicar, Hauraki.
Sold the house
Christopher Luxon has made the comment that he puts the housing crisis directly down to bad governing by the Labour Party. Is he stating then that it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the National Party sold $35 millions worth of state housing at the end of their last term in office? Insert Tui ad: yeah right.
Jim McCormick, Gisborne.
Stop, police
Immoral is the only word that comes to mind when I see how the Queensland Police are trying to poach our officers. New Zealand has a bad crime problem also and, no doubt, partially due to Australia’s policy of sending the 501s here. At the very least, shouldn’t New Zealand taxpayers be compensated for the money spent on the training of any officers poached?
Warren Cossey, Morrinsville.
Global games
Holding the Olympic Games is almost financially crippling for any one country these days. So why not let major cities tender to hold just one sporting event at the facilities they already have to hold that event? All the events can be held in different major cities all around the world over the same week and be affordable to the host city. Similar to Australia and New Zealand co-hosting the women’s football World Cup tournament, but on a bigger scale.
Warren Prouse, Papakura.
Repeat tackles
Your correspondent Chris Parker (NZ Herald, August 16) will indeed find himself surprised at Owen Farrell’s lawyered-up reprieve from deserved punishment for his cynical violence on the rugby field. From time to time, rugby players make tackling offences in error and are suitably regretful. Farrell is unique in the game as he appears to commit his brutal no-arms tackling with hostile intent and without remorse. He has long been a disgrace to the game.
Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
Well played
Having watched most of the games in the Fifa Women’s World Cup tournament, I have nothing but praise for the women who refereed the games. They were totally professional and some of the best referees I have ever watched. They were fair and took no nonsense from even the most verbal players... and there were plenty of them. Well done to all of you. Your professionalism allowed the games to be enjoyable to watch.
Trish Heikoop, Pakuranga.
On Dickason
Who would kill their three young daughters and be in their right mind? No wonder the defence team was incredulous at the decision. Graham Fleetwood, Botany Downs.
On GST
We’ve been told that taking GST off unprocessed fruit and vegetables would be a “gift to supermarkets.” In that case, the GST you don’t pay when you rent the home you live in is a gift to your landlord. Arch Thomson, Mt Wellington.
On leaders
The adage, “I’m not totally, useless, I can be used as a bad example” might well be the epitaph on Trump and Putin’s tombstones. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
On shopping
Sam Uffindell definitely should not be a politician, given he only does the grocery shopping once a month. As this seems to be a necessary criteria to be a politician in this country, then I should be Prime Minister, as I do the grocery shopping just about all the time. Bernard Walker, Pāpāmoa.
On dates
In response to Gillian Dance’s letter (NZ Herald, August 15), today when visiting Pak’nSave Wairau, there were shelves of dates at two for $5. No, not Labour responsible this time but maybe the labour of packers not putting them on shelves at your local. Dennis Manson, Unsworth Heights.
On Farrell
George Moala gets suspended for five weeks for a tip tackle and is effectively out of the Rugby World Cup. Double standards? “I say, old boy, pass the gin, good chap.” I. MacGregor, Greenhithe.
Audrey Young - who takes over as Labour’s leader if it loses the election?
If a party that has been in power for six years cannot campaign on its track record and past successes, it should not be campaigning at all. Labour is campaigning on new policy only. Not on its track record. This is proof that it does not deserve to govern. They think we are too dumb to realise this. Chuck S.
Agree partly. Labour has, sadly, a very profound “track record”. Every measurable statistic, socially and economically, went steeply downwards under its reign. All while increasing our debt to never-before-seen quantities. Alexander G.
I think it’s a bit irrelevant. The next Labour PM probably hasn’t been born yet. Mark R.
Post-John Key and Bill English, National was in similar turmoil. Actually, come election day, I don’t expect a huge gap between National and Labour. It is Act that will propel National to power. Given Act was polling so low a few years ago and was kept alive by rigging the Epsom seat, it has come back due to National voters going further right. A decade is a long time in politics and people have short memories. It’s the politician of the moment that makes the whole difference. Anmol S.
If National/Act win, I would think they will only last one term. There is so much chaos coming down the pipeline that governing will be very difficult for any party. Why is everyone underestimating Carmel Sepuloni? Narena O.
I disagree completely. It will be hard, hard work, and it will take a lot of time. Because the chaos and debt left by this Government are humungous. But no chaos, there will be a very disciplined caucus, focused on their work. Wishful thinking on your part. Alexander G.
The woman was shaken by the incident.