Is it a knot? Is it a tangle? The ever-growing tax web

Is it a knot? Is it a tangle? The ever-growing tax web
The latest proposals for the tax treatment of residential rentals tips the tax code further into mind-bending complexity
Pattrick Smellie
If a low-rate, broad-based tax system falls apart over many years, does anybody notice?In case it’s not obvious, this is a clumsy attempt to liken the gradual erosion of the radical simplification of the New Zealand tax system in the 1980s to the old Philosophy 101 problem of whether a tree that falls in a forest makes a noise if nobody’s there to hear it.I was there when that 1980s transformation was taking place, as a junior press secretary to Roger Douglas, the finance minister at the time.Roger made short work of the question ab...

More Property

Home designs to help the housing crisis
Property

Home designs to help the housing crisis

Certified Builders and Branz have both come up with free house designs.

Maria Slade 14 Jul 2025
Fast-track friction over Ōrewa housing development
Policy

Fast-track friction over Ōrewa housing development

Watercare says it may not service the proposed 1200-home development.

Oliver Lewis 11 Jul 2025
Ryman, Summerset unshaken by Victoria fee crackdown
Property

Ryman, Summerset unshaken by Victoria fee crackdown

A Victorian tribunal has ruled that Lifestyle Communities' fees are void.

Gregor Thompson 10 Jul 2025
Firm liquidated after dispute with Wallace family
Property

Firm liquidated after dispute with Wallace family

A land deal ended up in the courts, and ‘lengthy litigation’ ensued.

Gregor Thompson 10 Jul 2025