And She Was
When the going gets tough, it's time for the hairdresser.
The world was moving, she was right there with it, and she was
The world was moving, she was floating above it, and she was
And she was
Songwriters: David Byrne / Tina Weymouth / Jerry Harrison / Chris Frantz.
Making Flippy Floppy
As you know, Labour’s policy for a Capital Gains Tax was leaked early yesterday morning, and since then, the media and the government have been playing catch-up to criticise their plan.
While the media chose to focus on the leakage, as if that were the important thing here, the coalition came out guns blazing. Acting as if a relatively modest CGT were the end of their precious economy, they have worked so hard to deliver, with the rewards due any day now.
It’s what we expected: “don’t trust them”, “don’t put it all at risk”, but with the surprising addition of a new rule that apparently says you can’t ever change your mind.
I don’t mean mid-term, like National did when it increased GST under Key, having explicitly said it wouldn’t. I’m talking about taking different policies to the electorate for them to decide on. Chippy ruled out a CGT at the last election, so as far as the coalition is concerned, that is his position forevermore.
“He is Mr Flip-flop, it is all over the place,” said Luxon of Hipkins, from his Southeast Asian search for photobomb opportunities.
I thought it was a bit rich, this idea that a political leader can’t take a position and later change it with a fresh mandate.
Especially considering that Luxon himself ruled out asset sales in this term, but has already hinted they may be on the table in 2026.
Nicola Willis had some quite ludicrous things to say. 1 News showed Chippy saying the Aussies have long had a CGT, and her eyes lit up as she attempted to turn this into some trans-Tasman rivalry, saying, “This is one advantage we have over our Aussie cousins, let’s hold on to it.”
This ignores the facts that not just Australia but most countries have a CGT, and that Kiwis are currently leaving across the ditch in record numbers. It turns out a CGT isn't much of a deterrent—people want job opportunities and better pay.
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