Kerre Woodham: Why give something to people they don't need?

I was looking last night at things we could talk about, and there was plenty to talk about, all of which got superseded by Labour, Labour, Labour - having to release their capital gains tax, which is targeted to three free doctors' visits.

Labour's been playing peekaboo with a capital gains tax for some time now. Oh, will we, won't we? Oh, what's it going to look like? Can't tell you. And now they kind of have.

We finally get to hear the detail on what that CGT is going to look like, except #notreally. Because the release was made early because it was leaked, and so nobody got up to speak to the policy. Chris Hipkins, Barbara Edmonds, and Ayesha Verrall are doing that at 10:30am today, despite their press release having been out for the past five hours. With all news media going, what the dickens? What does it all mean?

Does nobody actually talk to one another in the Labour ranks? Last week a health policy was announced and Chris Hipkins was taken by surprise. Today there's been the leak, not ideal.

Anywho, from the press release, Labour will set up a Medicard for all New Zealanders, giving you three free doctors' visits per year, whether you need them or not, and will pay for it with a targeted capital gains tax. 
There was some detail included in the release.

The tax will exclude the family home, Kiwi Saver shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items. And the tax will only apply to gains made after July 2027. I heard Mike reading out a text saying, "Oh, I bought the batch in 56,1956. It's been in the family and now I'm going to have to pay a million dollars in tax." Well, no. The tax will only apply to gains made after July 2027.

Back to the press release we go ... currently most profits from selling commercial property or residential property are tax-free. A new targeted tax would apply only to the sale of a commercial property or residential property, excluding the family home, and only on the gains made after the 1st of July 2027. There would be no tax on any gains made before that date. I don't think that was very clear this morning in the discussion.

The tax would be set at 28% to align with the company tax rate. So some detail. So many more questions. I have some, and hopefully we'll be able to put them to Chris Hipkins, Ayesha Verrall, or Barbara Edmonds at some point. 
How much will three free visits for every New Zealand cost the taxpayer?

Anybody? No.

Related to that, how much does Labour anticipate collecting from a targeted capital gains tax?

Anybody? Nope. 

Does it include dental, which is what a lot of primary healthcare researchers have been calling for, or just the GP visits?

Why does everybody get three free visits? If one in six New Zealanders can't afford GP visits, why are taxpayers paying for the five in six who can?

What if I don't need to visit the doctor three times a year, but my neighbour needs to visit 10 times?

Surely it's better to look after people who are born with poor health or develop poor health over a lifetime, and look after them and keep them out of the hospital system.

And not specifically related to the policy, but why are you having so much trouble releasing policy, Labour?

Seems to be a bit tricky. You've had quite some time to develop it. Anyway, hopefully we can put these questions to them, but there has been much talk about a capital gains tax.

We've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for Labour to release this. It's so targeted, so specific in terms of how the CGT will be applied, and then to tie it in with free GP visits, three per person per year, when five in six New Zealanders don't need free visits. What's the point?  

You might think it's amazing. If so, I'd love to hear from you. If this is an absolute game-changer for you, I'd love to know how and why. To me, it's a complete and utter head-scratcher.

And I'm trying not to be biased against Chris Hipkins. But I am a bit, a little bit. But I'm open-minded to Barbara Edmonds and Ayesha Verrall, I quite like them in terms of the policy they announce. Chris Hipkins is a likeable chap, but I just think he's been a failure when it comes to delivering any kind of policy. I'm willing to keep a relatively open mind to Barbara Edmonds and Ayesha Verrall, but they're not doing much to convince me.

Why give something to people they do not need? That's been a criticism of National with the tax cuts and the landlord rebates. Why give something to people they don't need?

Why not target it to the people who do need it? And what's the point of bringing in a capital gains tax if it's going to be put into harness with three free GP visits to people who may or may not need them? I give this one a two out of 10. 

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