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Displaying: 1 - 164 of 164 items.
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Speeches and presentations
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Government Spending - Powerpoint Slides
18 August 2008, Roger Kerr
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The Dilemma of Public Sector Spending: Getting the Quantity and Quality Right
19 September 2006, Roger Kerr
This speech was given at the 10th Public Sector Finance Forum in Wellington today
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Imagination Untaxed: A Commentary on the Business Tax Review 2006
30 August 2006, Roger Kerr
Roger Kerr's speech to the Law & Finance 2nd Annual New Zealand Taxation Summit in Auckland today.
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Memo to All Parties: Big Government Harms Growth
12 July 2006, Roger Kerr
Roger Kerr's speech to the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson, Wellington.
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Some Issues in the Current Tax Debate
8 September 2005, Roger Kerr
Speech by Roger Kerr to the Taxation Summit in Auckland on 8 September 2005.
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The Fiscal Responsibility Act: A Stocktake
23 September 2004, Roger Kerr
Roger Kerr's paper to the Conferenz 8th Annual Public Sector Finance Forum in Wellington today.
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Sizing Up the 2004 Budget
15 May 2004, Roger Kerr
In just under a fortnight, finance minister Michael Cullen will be bringing
down the 2004 budget. This will be his fifth budget - Dr Cullen has had a
longer opportunity than Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson to make a
difference to New Zealand's economic affairs.
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Economics and Politics of Transition
12 January 2004, Roger Kerr
Speech by Roger Kerr to Mont Pelerin Society Special Regional Meeting, Sri Lanka
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Listen to Venus
30 July 2003, Roger Kerr
When President Bill Clinton was in office, he phoned the tennis champion Venus Williams to congratulate her on her win at the US Open.
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Memo to Dr Cullen: Big Government Harms Growth
25 September 2002, Roger Kerr
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Whither Taxes
12 November 2001, John Hagen
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Promoting Smaller and Better Government
7 August 2000, Roger Kerr
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The Pitfalls of Backyard Tax Policy
31 July 1999, Roger Kerr
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How Big Should Government Be?
14 October 1998, Roger Kerr
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The 1998 Budget
23 April 1998, Roger Kerr
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Reflections on the Winebox
21 November 1997, Douglas Myers
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Tax Policy: Where To From Here?
19 September 1997, Roger Kerr
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The 1997 Budget
12 May 1997, Roger Kerr
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High Achievers or Timid Gradualists?
26 June 1995, Roger Kerr
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Business Tax, Business Law and Business Performance
30 March 1993, Douglas Myers
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Why New Zealand Needs a Responsible Budget
17 June 1991, Peter Menzies
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Books and reports
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2008 Budget Personal Tax Package
11 February 2008, Business Roundtable report
Economic growth is a priority objective of the government. Growth requires
improvements in productivity and workforce participation. Both would be assisted
by lower taxes.
The reduction in the rate of company tax from 1 April 2008 is a welcome move.
However, personal tax rates are more important for many small and medium-sized
businesses and professional organisations, and for new equity invested in
companies by resident taxpayers. A coherent, medium-term strategy for personal
taxation is needed which is consistent with the decisions on business taxation in the
2007 Budget. At present New Zealand's tax policy is lacking in strategic direction
and vision.
The Tax Review 2001 (McLeod Review) remains a sound guide for such a
strategy. A key recommendation was the adoption of a lower, flatter income tax
structure. This would reduce the deadweight costs, complexities and other
inefficiencies of the present system.
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Does New Zealand have a household savings crisis?
1 October 2007, NZIER
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No Free Lunch - The Costs of Taxation
17 August 2007, Alex Robson
NZ $22.50
incl GST
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The Outcomes of Income Transfers
15 June 2007, Mark Harrison
Released this week, The Outcomes of Income Transfers, written by economist Mark Harrison and published by the New Zealand Business Roundtable, is a detailed analysis of the benefits and costs of redistribution.
NZ $33.75
incl GST
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How Big Should Government Be?
13 June 2005, Richard A Epstein
How Big Should Government Be?
was delivered as a lecture in Christchurch on
4 August 2004 at the Canterbury Employers'
Chamber of Commerce.
NZ $12.50
incl GST
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Dissecting the Working For Families Package
16 May 2005, Greg E Dwyer
Introduction
Most families with dependent children will qualify for additional family, childcare or housing assistance under the government's Working For Families (WFF) policy which was announced in the 2004 budget. WFF is being introduced in stages between October 2004 and April 2007, and will cost an estimated $1.1 billion a year or 0.7 percent of forecast GDP when fully implemented.
The analysis that follows draws on published information, including papers released under the Official Information Act and answers to parliamentary questions. The data are not always consistent. Joint family income, for instance, comprises taxable income in some cases and includes certain non-taxable income, such as child support, in other instances. Similarly, some data are based on after-tax income whereas most are gross of tax. Official data are also incomplete. Some policy measures, such as changes in the Accommodation Supplement, were often omitted from analyses prepared in response to parliamentary questions, apparently because of the complexity involved.
The structure of the paper is as follows. The objectives of WFF and its components and cost are summarised. An international comparison of family income assistance is presented. The implications for economic efficiency of WFF are then examined. The impact on child poverty and the distribution of income of WFF are discussed. The paper concludes by outlining an alternative and more desirable direction for policy.
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Personal Income Tax in New Zealand: Who Pays and is Progressive Taxation Justified?
12 April 2005, Sinclair Davidson
NZ $22.50
incl GST
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Restraining Leviathan: A Review of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994
23 November 2004, Bryce Wilkinson
Restraining Leviathan: A Review of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994 by Wellington economist and director of Capital Economics, Dr Bryce Wilkinson:
- reviews fiscal policy and its outcomes over the past decade and in a longer-term perspective;
- discusses the relationship between the size and quality of government spending and economic growth;
- makes the case for introducing explicit tax and spending limitations into the FRA; and
- explores other options for constraining government spending.
NZ $33.75
incl GST
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The Changing Balance Between the Public and Private Sectors
1 September 2002, Phil Barry
In the early 1990s, the World Bank identified four prerequisites for achieving sustainable economic growth: - sound macroeconomic policies; - competitive domestic markets and openness to international trade; - more and better private and public investment in people; and - achieving the 'right' balance between the roles of the public and private sectors.
NZ $24.95
incl GST
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How Much Government?: The Effects of High Government Spending on Economic Performance
1 July 2001, Winton Bates
NZ $22.50
incl GST
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Would A Financial Transactions Tax Be More Efficient & Equitable Than the Goods and Service Tax?
1 December 1996, New Zealand Business Roundtable
An analysis of the Alliance's proposal to replace GST with FTT.
NZ $12.50
incl GST
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The Marginal Costs of Taxation in New Zealand
1 March 1994, Swan Consultants
There is no summary available for this publication.
NZ $33.75
incl GST
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Budgetary Stress: Why New Zealand Needs to Reduce Government Spending, Deficits and Debt
1 April 1992, New Zealand Business Roundtable
There is no summary available for this publication.
NZ $22.50
incl GST
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Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth
1 March 1990, New Zealand Business Roundtable
There is no summary available for this publication.
NZ $22.50
incl GST
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Fiscal Policy 1988/90 - out of print
1 March 1989, New Zealand Business Roundtable
There is no summary available for this publication.
NZ $33.75
incl GST
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Better Value for Public Money - The Government's 1987 Budget and Medium Term Fiscal Policy
1 May 1987, New Zealand Business Roundtable
There is no summary available for this publication.
NZ $9.00
incl GST
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Indirect Taxation Policy
1 December 1986, New Zealand Business Roundtable
There is no summary available for this publication.
NZ $11.25
incl GST
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Submissions
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Submission to the Savings Working Group
24 September 2010, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The Business Roundtable welcomes the establishment of the Savings Working Group. We think there has been much mistaken analysis around savings over the past decade, especially by the Treasury, and that as a result, costly policies have been based on false premises.
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Submission on the Budget Policy Statement 2009
31 January 2009, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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1997 Budget Policy Statement
1 March 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Taxation (Annual Rates, Business Taxation, KiwiSaver, and Remedial Matters) Bill
10 July 2007, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission on the 2007 Budget Policy Statement
20 February 2007, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission on the KiwiSaver Bill
30 April 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Local Government Asset Decisions and the Cost of Capital
17 February 2006, Capital Economics Ltd
This paper was prepared by Capital Economics Ltd for the Local Government Forum
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Submission on the 2006 Budget Policy Statement
15 February 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Review of the Financial Reporting Act Part II
24 February 2005, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission on the Report of the Savings
Product Working Group
30 October 2004, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission on the Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill
21 April 2004, NZBR
The reasons for repealing the FRA as a separate piece of legislation
appear to be symbolic. While this could be seen as a step towards de-emphasising the
importance of fiscal responsibility, we think some features of the Bill represent
improvements.
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Submission on the 2004 Budget Policy Statement
11 February 2004, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The government's own projections make it clear that New Zealand will not achieve its 'top priority' goal of increasing sustainable growth under current policies.
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2003 Budget Policy Statement
12 January 2003, New Zealand Business Roundtable
In this submission, section 2 reviews the outlook for economic growth in the light of the government's growth targets. Section 3 comments on the government's fiscal strategy in relation to its growth objective. Section 4 reviews New Zealand's experience to date with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994. Section 5 provides our conclusions and recommendations.
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2002 Budget Policy Statement
2 January 2002, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission on the Tax Review 2001 Issues Paper
1 July 2001, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission on the Tax Review 2001
1 March 2001, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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2001 Budget Policy Statement
1 February 2001, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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1999 Budget Policy Statement
1 February 1999, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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1998 Budget Policy Statement
1 February 1998, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Taxation (Income Tax Rates) Bill
1 March 1997, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Tax Reduction Programme - Submission to the Minister of Finance
1 March 1996, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee of the House of Representatives on the Fiscal Responsibility Bill
1 February 1994, New Zealand Business Roundtable
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Articles
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Budget 2011 Doesn't Solve Serious Problems
26 May 2011, Roger Kerr
Some have described the 2011 budget as cautious and safe. Cautious, yes. Safe – maybe politically, but not in terms of removing economic risks. And no one to my knowledge described it as strategic – constituting a coherent, medium-term plan for restoring balanced growth.
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Is 'Tax the Rich' Good Policy?
26 April 2011, Roger Kerr
The Labour Party plans to increase the top personal tax rate on higher income earners if it wins office at the November election. The last Labour-led government raised the rate from 33 to 39 cents, ostensibly to gain more revenue for social spending. As always happens, there were unintended consequences.
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Savings Working Group Serves Up Strange Report
10 January 2011, Roger Kerr, Otago Daily Times
The SWG is tasked with exploring the connections between national saving and fiscal policy, taxation and the future role of KiwiSaver. Yet its main focus seems to be on New Zealand’s current account deficits and external debt, and it ranges over state sector management, productivity and other extraneous issues.
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Abolition of Gift Duty Long Overdue
17 December 2010, Roger Kerr, Otago Daily Times
The wheels of bureaucracy can sure grind exceeding slow. Inertia and risk aversion on the part of bureaucrats often defeat overwhelming arguments for change.
The exercise of abolishing gift duty is a good illustration of much that is wrong with the policy advice process in Wellington.
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Savings Working Group a Good Initiative
26 August 2010, Roger Kerr, Stuff Business Day
The savings debate has not always been well-informed, and it’s good that the government has put together a well qualified group to advise it. Saving may encourage growth, but growth also encourages saving. And only a productive, growing economy can generate the goods and services people need in retirement; they can’t consume bank deposits.
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The Dubious Benefits of Fiscal Stimulus
13 August 2010, Roger Kerr, Otago Daily Times
John Maynard Keynes once wrote: “There is no harm in being sometimes wrong – especially if one is promptly found out.” Unfortunately for the world, the problems with Keynes’ ideas were not discovered promptly, and the lessons were too soon forgotten as Keynesian thinking enjoyed a revival with the recent global financial crisis and subsequent recession.
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Spending Cap an Idea Whose Time has Come
19 April 2010, Roger Kerr, The Dominion Post
Next month’s budget is expected to include an announcement on some form of legislated cap on government spending. This could be one of the most important reforms the government has so far proposed.
The initiative was foreshadowed in last December’s Budget Policy Statement, where the minister of finance Bill English noted that “Controlling the growth of, and getting better value from, government spending should be a permanent feature of the economic landscape.”
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The 2010 Budget: Rough Water Ahead
23 October 2009, Roger Kerr
Preparations for the 2010 budget will be underway in government circles. The 2010 Budget Policy Statement, which sets out the broad parameters, is due in December. The task won’t be an easy one. Core Crown expenses have mushroomed from 29.2% of GDP in the year to June 2004 to a forecast 37.3% in the year to June 2010. On the wider OECD measure, which includes local government, total government spending is running at 46.4% of GDP, higher than the OECD average.
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Inflation and Housing: Three Myths
8 October 2009, Roger Kerr
Recently there have been renewed calls to tax capital gains on housing. Opposition leader Phil Goff has indicated Labour would be open to talks. Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee considered the taxation of housing in its 2007-08 monetary policy inquiry. It found that the monetary framework was sound, with monetary policy being necessary and sufficient to maintain price stability. Only the Green Party recommended a capital gains tax (CGT)on housing (other than the family home).
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Trend to Bigger Government Must Be Reversed
10 August 2009, Roger Kerr
President Bill Clinton once famously remarked that "the era of big government is over". He could not have been more wrong. Recently the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released its bi-annual Economic Outlook. It makes for grim reading. For OECD countries as a whole, government expenditure ('general government total outlays') is recast to jump from 40.2% of GDP in 2007 to 45.7% in 2010: over 5 percentage points.
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Naive Keynesianism and Other Fallacies
10 June 2009, Roger Kerr
One of the most frequently cited statements in economics is John Maynard Keynes' observation that "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."
For decades after those words were written, and extending even to the present time, Keynes was that influential defunct economist.
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The 2009 Budget - What's Next
2 June 2009, Roger Kerr
A review of the 2009 Budget and its implications for economic growth.
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Faith in Government Spending is Misplaced
13 February 2009, Roger Kerr
It is now widely considered that government policy mistakes caused the banking collapses of the 1930s, protectionism aggravated the decline and New Deal spending was largely ineffective. But many governments, under populist pressures to 'do something', seem to have forgotten those lessons.
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Home or Away? Investing the Cullen Fund
24 October 2008, Roger Kerr
One reason among others for doing so was the risk of political interference. It was naďve of finance minister Michael Cullen to think this would not happen. Similar funds elsewhere have routinely been raided for political purposes. The Rudd government in Australia already plans to tamper with the Future Fund established by the Howard government to underwrite public servants' superannuation.
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We Need a Clearer Debate About Infrastructure
8 September 2008, Roger Kerr
In New Zealand, electricity is a government-dominated industry and actual or threatened winter shortages have become routine. The problem has been compounded by regulatory interventions by both National and Labour-led governments.
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Why a Tax-Free Zone is a Bad Idea
4 August 2008, Roger Kerr
Those in the income bracket 0 - $10,000 (some 881,000 people or 21% of all taxpayers) pay just 1% of total income tax, according to the 2008 Budget documents. It follows that many people on very low incomes would derive little benefit from a tax-free zone.
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Transport Policy: A Replay of the Economic Past?
11 July 2008, Roger Kerr
The transport sector vividly illustrates the replay of the economic past - dramatically in the case of the buy-back of Air New Zealand and the railways, and the repurchase of the private shareholding in Ports of Auckland by the Auckland Regional Council, but in other ways as well.
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The Great Train Folly
4 July 2008, Roger Kerr
As the World Bank has said, "Privatisation is now so widespread that it is hard to find countries not using the approach: "North Korea, Cuba and perhaps Myanmar make up the shrunken universe of the resistant."
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Budget 2008: A 'How Not To Do It' Tax Policy
9 June 2008, Roger Kerr
Now that the dust has settled on finance minister Michael Cullen's ninth budget, it is timely to reflect on wider issues than who got what on budget night.
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Budget 2008 An Admission of Failure
27 May 2008, Roger Kerr
What should we hold a government accountable for? The answer would seem obvious: whether it is achieving the goal which it has stated to be its "top priority'.
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Privatisation: New Zealand Swimming Against the Tide
8 May 2008, Roger Kerr
With the National Party's decision not to move any state-owned enterprises to the private sector in its first term if elected this year, we appear to have a new political consensus between the major parties in New Zealand: privatisation is bad.
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Closing the Gaps with Australia Not Likely with Present Policies
25 April 2008, Roger Kerr
The government's flagship 'Closing the Gaps' programme, focused on closing gaps between Maori and non-Maori and put in place after it was elected in 1999, was abandoned within a year. Its focus then shifted to closing the income gaps with the top half of the OECD. However, 10 years later (taking into account forecasts), it will not have moved New Zealand one rung up the ladder.The National Party talks about closing the wage gap with Australia, but it is doubtful whether the policies it has so far put forward would do anything to narrow it. The task is extremely challenging.
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Budget Tax Package Should Focus on Economic Growth
3 April 2008, Rob McLeod
The forthcoming budget will announce significant personal income tax reductions. Not all tax cuts are created equal. What form should the tax package take? This article was published in the NZ Herald today.
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The Priority for Tax Reforms: A Flatter Tax Scale
16 November 2007, Roger Kerr
Tax cuts are in the news again. The government has signalled that it will move to cut personal tax in the 2008 budget, and the National Party also favours tax reductions.
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Auckland Airport Not a Political Plaything
24 August 2007, Roger Kerr
Some of the reactions to the offer by Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) to take a shareholding of 51% - 60% in Auckland International Airport Limited (AIAL) have been emotive rather than rational.
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Taming the 'Tax, Spend and Regulate' Beast
18 May 2007, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the Otago Daily Times.
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Another Budget of Missed Opportunities
18 May 2007, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the National Business Review.
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How to Future-Proof New Zealand
17 May 2007, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the DominionPost.
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Tax Cuts, Inflation and Saving: Confusion Piled High
9 February 2007, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the Otago Daily Times on 9 February 2007
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Loss of a Freedom Fighter
1 December 2006, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the Otago Daily Times on 1 December 2006.
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Tax Cuts Now On the Agenda
16 October 2006, Business Forum
This article was first published in the Dominion Post today.
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The Deadweight Costs of Taxation
8 September 2006, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the Otago Daily Times.
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Scanning the Far Horizon: Treasury's Fiscal Outlook
12 July 2006, Roger Kerr
Last month the Treasury released a report on New Zealand's long-term fiscal position, looking out to around the middle of this century.
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Some Myths and Facts About Savings
14 June 2006, Roger Kerr
There is a lot of bad economics, as well as self-interest, in public commentary about savings. Repetition of the mantra that New Zealanders are poor savers doesn't make it true.
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Budget 2006: Read It and Weep
2 June 2006, Roger Kerr
What are we to make of the 2006 budget, two weeks after the dust has settled?
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Are Australians or New Zealanders More Highly Taxed?
29 May 2006, Roger Kerr
There has been renewed political debate about whether New Zealanders are more or less highly taxed than Australians, sparked by the Australian government's announcement of tax reductions in its recent budget.
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Compulsory Savings and Capital Markets
19 May 2006, Roger Kerr
Calls are sometimes made for New Zealand to adopt a version of Australia's compulsory savings scheme on the grounds that this would increase savings and make more and cheaper capital available to New Zealand firms.
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Business to Government: Please Lower and Flatten Taxes
7 April 2006, Roger Kerr
This week Federated Farmers, the New Zealand Business Roundtable and the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce told the government what they would like to see come out of the review of business taxation.
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Is There a Case for a Payroll Tax?
13 March 2006, Roger Kerr
Recent media reports suggest the government may be considering a payroll tax as an option in its review of business taxation.
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Budget 2006: More Spending and Less Growth
10 February 2006, Roger Kerr
Last December the government released its latest Budget Policy Statement (BPS).
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Privatisation: A Third Rail?
4 November 2005, Roger Kerr
Privatisation seems to be regarded as a 'third rail' in New Zealand politics: touch it and you're dead.
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Getting Better Value for Money in Public Spending
1 November 2005, Roger Kerr
The government has embarked on a review of government spending with the aim of finding savings to offset spending decisions arising out of election commitments and the coalition agreements.
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The Dynamic Effects of Tax Cuts
14 September 2005, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in The Dominion Post (12 September)
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New Zealanders Are More Highly Taxed than Australians
25 August 2005, Roger Kerr
This article was first published in the New Zealand Herald (24 August 2005)
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Are Tax Cuts Inflationary?
15 July 2005, Roger Kerr
In arguing against tax cuts, one point that finance minister Michael Cullen asserts is that they would push up prices, and that the Reserve Bank would have to raise interest rates to curb inflation.
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Are New Zealanders Poor Savers - or Just Rational?
20 June 2005, Roger Kerr
This article first appeared in the Otago Daily Times on 17 June 2005
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Budget Gets a 'Not Achieved' Grade
23 May 2005, Roger Kerr
The government has repeatedly stated that its 'top priority' goal is faster economic growth (to return New Zealand to the top half of the OECD income rankings).
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Some Taxing Issues
6 May 2005, Roger Kerr
This article first appeared in The Otago Daily Times on 4 May 2005. By Roger Kerr, Executive Director, NZBR.
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Taxation in New Zealand: Myth and Reality
6 May 2005, Roger Kerr
This article first appeared in The Otago Daily Times in April 2005. By Roger Kerr, Executive Director, NZBR
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The Case for Flat Taxes
1 February 2005, Richard A Epstein
The flat tax is robust and unique, and outstrips its competitors in fairness and efficiency.
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A Deficit of Understanding
15 January 2005, Roger Kerr
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Competition Vital for Efficiency as Savings Debate Continues
19 November 2004, Roger Kerr
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The Case for a Flat Tax
8 October 2004, Roger Kerr
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The Fiscal Responsibility Act: A Stocktake After Ten Years
24 September 2004, Roger Kerr
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The Record of Progress
10 September 2004, Roger Kerr
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The Role of Business in Historical Perspective and Today
30 July 2004, Roger Kerr
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OECD Gives New Zealand a D Grade
22 December 2003, Roger Kerr
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was, in its own words, set up "to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in member countries", while contributing to world trade and development generally.
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A country is not a company
8 December 2003, Roger Kerr
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Why is Australia doing so well?
24 August 2003, Roger Kerr
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New Zealand's slow slide to mediocrity
9 July 2003, Norman LaRocque
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Groaning under a heavy burden
27 May 2003, Roger Kerr
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New Zealand Budget lacks a focus on growth
16 May 2003, Roger Kerr
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Will we get a Budget of substance?
14 May 2003, Roger Kerr
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Economic transformation: action is lagging behind words
29 November 2002, Dr Murray Horn
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Perspectives
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Issue 413 Left, Right and Wrong on Taxes
22 November 2010, Glenn Hubbard
GIVEN the furor from both the left and the right, one would be tempted to think that the initial proposal from the co-chairmen of President Obama’s fiscal commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, must offer an excellent starting point for a discussion of deficit reduction.
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Issue 383 Pain Ahead for Indebted Europe
15 July 2010, Henry Ergas
A SPECTRE is haunting Europe: the spectre of public debt. The debt-to-gross domestic product ratio for the European Union is projected to reach 80 per cent this year. Some recent growth in public indebtedness reflects weak economic conditions, but structural budget deficits have also increased sharply.
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Issue 381 Prune and Grow
8 July 2010, David Brooks
Sixteen months ago, Congress passed a stimulus package that will end up costing each average taxpayer $7,798. Economists were divided then about whether this spending was worth it, and they are just as divided now.
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Issue 376 'Basically an Optimist' - Still
17 June 2010, Peter Robinson
"No, no. Not at all."
So says Gary Becker when asked if the financial collapse, the worst recession in a quarter of a century, and the rise of an administration intent on expanding the federal government have prompted him to reconsider his commitment to free markets.
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Issue 361 The Next Fall of Rome
21 April 2010, Oliver Marc Hartwich
Schoolchildren around the world learn that European history starts with Athens and Rome. In future times, they will also be taught that the end of modern Europe began in the same places.
The European welfare state model hit the buffers in Greece’s fiscal crisis. Universal cradle-to-grave care for everyone as practised by consecutive Greek governments will never return. Not because European politicians would not want to provide it but because such promises can no longer be paid for. Greece’s current budgetary near-death experience only foreshadows what most of Europe will suffer in the coming years.
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Issue 357 Escape from Taxation
6 April 2010, Wall Street Journal Opinion
New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie must be following the economic news from
Greece. Its tattered reputation for fiscal control has turned Greece into an international
financial nightmare and laughingstock. Perhaps tiring of New Jersey jokes, Governor
Christie this week handed down a stiff freeze on spending.
Announcing the freeze on $1.6 billion of unspent money, Mr. Christie was blunt:
"Today, we come to terms with the fact that we cannot spend money on everything we
want. Today, the days of Alice in Wonderland budgeting in Trenton end."
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Issue 296 What Happened to the 'Depression'?
4 September 2009, Allan H. Meltzer
Day after day, economists, politicians and journalists repeat the trope that the current recession is the worst since the Great Depression. Repetition may reinforce belief, but the comparison is greatly overstated and highly misleading. Anyone who knows even a bit about the Great Depression knows that this is false.
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Issue 291 Obama Needs a Move to the Middle
19 August 2009, Michael J Boskin
While strong recoveries sometimes follow deep recessions, historically recoveries following financial crises have been slow and painful. The specter of massive future tax hikes and inflation is worsening the outlook. We need a better, more coherent policy path back to a strong market economy-not to a European style social-welfare state, permanent government lifelines and stagflation.
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Issue 289 If David Cameron wants to govern, he should stop being afraid of ideas
12 August 2009, Simon Heffer
You may recall the Beyond the Fringe sketch in which Squadron Leader Peter Cook tells Jonathan Miller, the doleful pilot, that he must set out on a doomed mission because "we need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war".
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Issue 288 Beware sorry fate of fads
5 August 2009, John Roskam
A decade ago we were told we should be more like the ʺCeltic Tigerʺ ‐ Ireland. In the heady days
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Issue 285 Thanks Due to Monetary Policy
24 July 2009, Tony Makin
Fiscal stimulus has had less effect than other measures.IN most recent commentary on the state of the economy, it has become routine to credit federal fiscal stimulus, particularly the cash handouts to households, for any positive economic news. Whether it is the avoidance so far of a technical recession, higher than expected retail sales, or other miscellaneous measures of spending, we have been led to believe that things would have been much worse without the unprecedented fiscal activism.
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Issue 279, Abandoning the Pillars of Sound Policy
3 July 2009, Edward L Glaeser
In the 1990s, American economists roamed the world preaching the virtues of fiscal restraint, the rule of law, free trade, and privatization. Today, those four policy pillars, once known as the Washington Consensus, are abandoned in the city that gave that consensus its name. These policies were never commandments from Mount Sinai, but they are important ingredients of long-run economic success. In a recession, putting today's needs ahead of tomorrow's prosperity is understandable, but even in bleak times, doing too much can be worse than doing too little.
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Issue 277 Should Keynes Have a Seat at the G20 Table?
26 June 2009, Stephen Kirchner
If the leaders of the G20 nations and the International Monetary Fund are to be believed, activist fiscal policy is essential to save the global economy from an even deeper and more protracted downturn. In this context, it is not surprising that many commentators, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in his recent essay for The Monthly, should turn to the work of John Maynard Keynes for inspiration. For they will find very little support for activist fiscal policy in contemporary, mainstream economic thought.
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Issue 255 Follow the Kiwi leader, not Obama
8 April 2009, Tony Makin
Despite the federal fiscal stimuli we had to have, Australia is almost certain to experience the recession it was not supposed to have.
So, with earlier stimulatory measures failing to work as expected, what alternatives would work better?
The answer is: those primarily focused on the production rather than the spending side of the economy.
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Issue 252, Favoring a flat tax
27 March 2009, Richard A Epstein
All in all, Obama's efforts to soak the rich may prove half successful. The rich will be soaked, but everyone else will be left worse off from lagging productivity and asset losses.
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Issue 73, Flat tax is the way of the future
27 March 2006, Daniel J. Mitchell
Thanks to globalization, many nations are adopting better tax policies. Certain politicians still believe in high tax rates, of course, but they feel compelled to move in the opposite direction since it is now increasingly easy for labor and capital to escape oppressive tax regimes by crossing national borders.
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Issue 64, Are Tax Cuts Inflationary
25 July 2005, Roger Kerr
In arguing against tax cuts, one point that finance minister Michael Cullen asserts is that they would push up prices, and that the Reserve Bank would have to raise interest rates to curb inflation
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Media Releases
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Business Roundtable Welcomes Spending Cap Bill
11 August 2011, New Zealand Business Roundtable
“The Bill introduced to parliament yesterday as a government measure to place a cap on government spending deserves strong support”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Savings Working Group Report a Mixed Bag
1 February 2011, New Zealand Business Roundtable
“Today’s report by the Savings Working Group contains some important messages but is flawed by dubious analysis and over-reach”, the executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, Roger Kerr, said today.
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Stronger Action Needed to Boost Growth and Reduce Risks
14 December 2010, New Zealand Business Roundtable
“It is pleasing that official projections confirm a gradual pick-up in activity but the growth outlook is relatively weak and the economy is vulnerable to adverse events”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Minister's Comments on NZIER Saving Report Incorrect
16 October 2007, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The New Zealand Business Roundtable said today that comments by finance minister Michael Cullen on the report on household saving by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research reflected a misunderstanding of relevant data.
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Does New Zealand have a household saving crisis?
1 October 2007, NZIER
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Tax Revenue is an Expensive Resource
17 August 2007, New Zealand Business Roundtable
Confirmation that taxes impose significant economic costs, and that tax revenue should be regarded as an expensive resource in considering government spending activities, is contained in a new report released today by the New Zealand Business Roundtable.
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New Study Examines Effects of Income Redistribution
16 June 2007, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"A new empirical study of the effects of income redistribution underlines its limitations compared to wealth creation as a means of alleviating poverty", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Business to Government: Curb Spending and Get Productivity Up
1 May 2007, Roger Kerr
"A select committee inquiry into pressures on inflation and the export sector will be a waste of time if its focus is to be on monetary policy", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Tax Freedom Day is 30 April
27 April 2007, Roger Kerr
"Tax Freedom Day this year is 30 April, as far as the central government tax burden is concerned", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Budget Policy Statement Falls Short of Government's Goals
14 February 2007, Roger Kerr
"The projections in the Budget Policy Statement, which go out over 10 years from when the government was first elected in 1999, are clear evidence that its economic policies are not succeeding", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Mediocre Growth Outlook and Government Spending Surge Confirmed in Budget Documents
19 December 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"The 2007 Budget Policy Statement makes no mention of the government's former 'top priority' goal of raising New Zealand per capita incomes to above the OECD average", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Business Tax Review Not Coherent Or Bold
26 July 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"It is pleasing that the government wants to align tax policy with economic growth, but the proposals in its discussion document are piecemeal and fall short of its commitment to a 'bold' review", Rob McLeod, chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Proper Diagnosis of Current Account Position Needed
23 June 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"A focus on New Zealanders' savings habits in explaining the current account deficit is misplaced", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable said today.
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Budget Should Address Sagging Growth Rate
15 May 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"The challenge facing the government in this week's budget is to recognise and take action to address New Zealand's deteriorating medium-term economic outlook", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Australian Budget a Wake-up Call
10 May 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"The Australian government's moves towards a lower and flatter tax scale point to where New Zealand should be heading", Rob McLeod, chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Tax Freedom Day is Approaching
24 April 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
Tax Freedom Day in New Zealand is important because it represents the day in the year when the average New Zealander stops working for the government and starts working for themselves, the executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, Roger Kerr, said today.
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Submission on Budget Policy Statement 2006 Released
15 February 2006, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The Business Roundtable is calling on the government to reconsider its spending programmes and tax policy, and to adopt a more pro-growth economic strategy.
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Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update
18 August 2005, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The two key points that stand out from today's Pre-EFU are that the economy's medium-term growth rate is falling away, not picking up, and that there is ample room for tax reductions.
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Over-Spending and Over-Taxing Stifling Growth
19 May 2005, New Zealand Business Roundtable
"The 2005 Budget is a missed opportunity to reduce government spending and taxing that is stifling economic growth, and to use good economic times to set out a forward-looking reform agenda", Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.
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Dissecting the Working for Families Package
16 May 2005, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The government's $1.1 billion Working for Families (WFF) package announced in the 2004 Budget is poorly targeted, will do little to encourage moves from welfare to work, and creates high effective marginal tax rates over a wide income range. The money would have been better applied to cutting tax rates and more tightly targeting assistance to low income families.
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Personal Income Tax in New Zealand:
Who Pays, and Is Progressive Taxation Justified?
12 April 2005, Sinclair Davidson
New Zealand is a relatively high-taxing economy where higher-income earners pay the bulk of income tax. Those are two of the conclusions of Australian economist Sinclair Davidson in a new study published by the New Zealand Business Roundtable.
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E-Connects
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Milton Friedman on Steel Tariffs and Trade in 1978
1 February 2010, Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman gives a concise and lucid argument for free trade at Utah State University in 1978.
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Economics 101 on "Moral Hazard"
11 January 2010, Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation
A new video released by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation is the first in their "Economics 101" video series, a project designed to educate students, young people, and the general public about basic free market principles. This first video deals with the concept of "Moral Hazard."
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