The informed discussion on the next steps in tax policy is about improving the income tax base, not about taxing wealth directly.
Read MoreImproving Taxing Income
David Parker
How Donald Trump helped save the trade deal and enabled Ardern's realism
Labour's willingness to back the new CPTPP owes a lot to the US president, but also shows the rise of the political realists in its ranks. But the hard part is yet to come
Read MoreBrave Bill's super pledge: But what about tax & health?
Touching the third rail of superannuation is a brave act by any government, but what about those other curly questions?
Read MoreThe true cost of National's not so super duper super policy
Bill English has made a brave call on super, but is it mere penance for years of bad calls, will New Zealanders face the facts and has he just started a new inter-generational war?
Read MoreHow Andrew Little needs to begin
How many times have we seen shots of Labour party leaders declaring unity while standing in front of caucus members, smiling the kind of smile you produce by sucking air through your teeth?
Labour doesn't need more protests of unity. It needs more open debate.
Read MoreAndrew's the leader – a big opportunity or a Little problem?
Little is the Labour leader despite weak support from his caucus. But they now have two choices: unify or die. And Little has the scope to rebuild from the ground up
Read MoreThe key Labour question: 3 or 6?
The new Labour leader will be announced on Tuesday. But before choosing Labour members need to decide if they see the rebuild as a three or six year project
Read MoreLabour's dilemma: The unelectable leader
The trouble with not being troubled by the mood of New Zealand as a whole, is that the party hands Labour a political dog
Read MoreMr Joyce claimed nine mistakes in David Parker's interview. None stacked up.
If Steven Joyce is right that David Parker told ‘nine lies’ about the economy on The Nation last weekend, then he must believe the economy is already in full boom; growth has peaked and needs to be slowed; exporters are whingers; the hot New Zealand dollar is nothing to worry about; that not selling enough products to the world to pay for all the things we buy from other countries isn’t a problem - hell, we’ve been doing it for forty years - let’s do it for another forty!
And there is no housing bubble in Auckland - David Parker made it up.
Read MoreThree ways Labour's 'new tool' is digging it out of a hole
It's too soon to say whether Labour's onto a fiscal winner, but politically its given the party a circuit-breaker it desperately needed
Read MoreTime running out for Labour
It's now or never for Labour, starting with monetary policy and legal highs
Read MoreHow the left could still win
I wrote a column in the National Business Review this weekend, and it’s driving right-wingers there nuts.
When you're in a hole, keep digging
The questions Energy Minister Phil Heatley should have been asked on The Nation; and why former Minister David Parker, bless him, still doesn’t get it
Read MoreWho you gonna call (out)? Bill English or the Greeks?
Budget 2012 lays the ground for the battle of the narratives that will decide Election 2014. Yes siree, the campaign begins now, with the blame game
Read MoreHe's Goff and he's off -- so who's next?
So the names for the Labour leadership are now in the hat. The caucus has a decent buffet to choose from, but need to remember it's not all about them
Read MoreEpsom: ACT dependent on political welfare
The Epsom candidates' debate last night drew out the bizarreness of a race where the frontrunner would rather lose and the ACT candidate is rallying behind the leader of another party. At least the unacknowledged presence in this race was finally discussed by name
Read MoreWhy Epsom matters - a lesson in reading billboards
National, Labour, the Greens and ACT have all set out on different routes to victory in the country's toriest seat. The billboards dotted around the electorate lay the strategies bare
Read MoreDavid Parker in Epsom – stepping up or giving up?
David Parker has been touted as a future Labour leader, so what does his decision to stand in Epsom tell us about his ambitions?
Read MoreTax: Some facts (for a change)
John key says Labour's tax package will make high-income earners "not welcome in New Zealand". Where might they be more welcome than here?
Read MoreCubicle dairy farming: Labour’s legacy
Two of the three sites for which cubicle dairy farms are proposed were formerly Crown pastoral land, made freehold by the Clark government
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