Guesswork and slogans: the wealth tax debate

Guesswork and slogans: the wealth tax debate
David Parker's wealth tax project may take a generation to bear fruit. (Image: BusinessDesk)
Pattrick Smellie
A few days before revenue minister David Parker released his much-awaited research into how much tax the wealthy pay, he and I were chatting amiably after a press conference about the “Super Lefty Person” painting in his office.Auckland painter John Reynolds, who I knew four decades ago as a slightly harried barista at John’s Diner, was the artist and we were trading stories about the Auckland art scene in the way you’d expect of a couple of Wellington pointyheads, until it occurred to me to try this conversational gambi...

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