How to discourage wealth

How to discourage wealth
Simon Robertson has been considering French eating habits – here, a rare tartare burger earlier this week. (Image: Simon Robertson)
Simon Robertson
“Let them eat cake” was a quote attributed to Marie-Antoinette, the bride of France’s King Louis XVI.With that callous remark, the queen became a hated symbol of the decadent monarchy and fuelled the revolution that would cause her to (literally) lose her head several years later.However, there are times when allowing the populace to eat cake might make sense. The tax treatment of foreign investments is one such example.The damage caused by New Zealand’s Foreign Investment Fund (FIF) taxation regime.As it’s ta...

More Economy

ANZ survey: ‘The worst will soon be past’
Economy

ANZ survey: ‘The worst will soon be past’

ANZ-Roy Morgan's survey shows that consumer confidence bounced back from recessionary lows in July.“It’s still very low but has clawed back about half the March-April fall that coincided with ‘recession’ headlines. The lift was driven by improving expectations rather than the...

Staff reporters 26 Jul 2024
The kiwi dollar is falling prey to the bears
Economy

The kiwi dollar is falling prey to the bears

The only worst performer is the Norwegian krone.

Rebecca Howard 26 Jul 2024
Recession worries? Blame China's economic flu
Economy

Recession worries? Blame China's economic flu

Treasury's chief economic adviser says China's economic woes are being felt in NZ.

Dileepa Fonseka 25 Jul 2024
Holidays Act: no vacation for taxpayers
Economy In-depth

Holidays Act: no vacation for taxpayers

Let's pay billions of dollars and get nothing new for it.

Nikitin Sallee 25 Jul 2024