Should we abolish Income Tax and replace it with increased GST ?
Thomas Howard
Public
Seen by 184
My idea is to replace Income Tax with increased GST. The main aim of this idea is simplify tax collection, leading to cost efficiencies for both Government and Industry.
It would also mean more money for low income households (no GST on food and other essentials) and place the burden of taxation onto the wealthy who can easily afford luxury items such as imported cars, plant and machinery. There would also be no requirement for businesses to operate complicated payroll systems or report to IRD.
A further benefit is that the Government (i.e. taxpayer) would not need to spend any money upgrading its antiquated systems – a significant cost saving.
This would create a much fairer tax system for all – a simple tax on spending with no loopholes to avoid paying one’s fair share.
I look forward to your feedback…
Devan Subramaniam
Thu 24 Jul 2014 2:57AM
I think GST should be abolished altogether. It only burdens the poor and any exemptions for fresh food is just silly tinkering around the edges. We should reform the taxes and penalize those who use loopholes to avoid paying their share of tax.
Ben Wallace
Sat 26 Jul 2014 7:56PM
Try a single flat income/profits tax of half with a universal shared base income and no GST. GST is a tax on consumption, which when looked the other way round, means it's also a tax on production.
Cohen Glass
Thu 31 Jul 2014 11:17PM
abolish income tax- keep gst the same or lower it- and tax start taxing the banks, and dairy farmers.
Wade Vuglar
Tue 5 Aug 2014 9:03PM
First thing we should do is drop GST completely and institute a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) of a tenth of a %. This will net more per day that GST does. Eventually an FTT could replace all income tax as well.
Anton Skipworth
Wed 6 Aug 2014 9:53AM
Not cool with this.
Even a flat tax rate would be fairer.
Deleted account
Wed 6 Aug 2014 11:25AM
Yes this is regressive. I would like to see the first 10k of income tax free. National just got rid of a law that allowed you to pay no tax if you earned under 10k and not on a benefit.
fuck you assholes Mon 21 Jul 2014 9:39AM
@hugheldredgrigg While I disagree with no GST (it's also a tax on tourists, although I agree with lower GST), I think you've made the right point. Poor people spend all their money. Livings costs do not increase exponentially with income level. At a certain point you can only spend so much money on "living costs".
It's also another point against a monetary system that has interest. It encourages holding on to money.
Guntram Shatterhand Mon 21 Jul 2014 11:17AM
@reidalexanderwicks That's one of the main arguments in favour of inflation, that it encourages people not to just sit on their money.
You might be right about a small GST serving as a tax on tourists, but I think there are better ways to capture tourist spending. Still, no need to go into that in depth, since we agree on the broad thrust of this policy.
Marc Whinery Mon 21 Jul 2014 8:15PM
Many places have "tourist taxes" on hotel rooms, rental cars, and tourist activities like jumping (sky, tower, bridge) and boat rides, as well as more indirect ones, like taxes on prepared food restaurants) and such. Yes, that ends up with odd situations like the same item being tax free in one place, and with tax in another. If you buy an Anchor chocolate milk in a supermarket, it'd be tax-free, but in a McDonald's with a happy meal, it'd be taxed.
And just because I say something doesn't mean I think it the best solution. I'm just offering up an opinion about what others have done for the same goals as stated here by others.
Guntram Shatterhand · Mon 21 Jul 2014 8:51AM
This is a bad idea. If you tax spending but not income you are rewarding saving in place of expenditure. How much one saves is usually a function of how high ones income is - it's easier for the rich to save, and harder for the poor. Not only does the proposed policy penalise the poor, who spend a much smaller proportion of their income (sometimes all of it), it will also discourage economic growth.
I would actually prefer the exact opposite - higher income taxes, and no GST.