What is in it for me?
What ordinary people want to know about a party’s policies are “What is in it for me?” And that’s a very valid question.
What are the outcomes for you the voter when we fundamentally alter the structure of the tax system and the money system as we are proposing?
OK here is what is going to happen. The whole prices structure will be altered. Because GST and income tax are a component of the price of everything you buy, prices will drop. Because interest is included in the price of everything you buy, prices will drop.
And that will make everything more affordable. But wait? What about other taxes? You said you were going to tax the use of land and other natural resources including the use of the biosphere for waste. Yes for those items that will put the price up again.
For example, for imported petrol the price won’t drop, it will actually rise if we want to do something about climate change. The price of any fossil fuel based goods will rise including artificial fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides. So the farmer will have to learn how to use EM (effective microorganisms), together with other good farming methods, to keep the soil full of nutrients.
What about imported whiteware and vehicles? The lack of GST will keep the price down and since they are manufactured in other countries, but that is about all. It is only when it is manufactured in New Zealand that it drops because of the lack of income tax. And it will include some natural resources taxes, depending on the metal.
The land, because it is fully taxed, will be more efficiently used. The sheer waste of city people living on valuable “lifestyle blocks” just outside a city or township will vanish as Crown Leasehold land gradually replaces freehold land. This land will once again be used by genuine farmers growing food for the city. The need for transport will decline. So we will see fewer huge trucks on our roads transporting chilled goods from Auckland.
And a Citizens Dividend distributed in Land Dollars – how will that change things? Once again, a marvellous result. Even if every man, woman and child gets, say, a L$50 dividend, for a family of two adults and two children that is $200 in land dollars. Spend it at the Farmers Market. The local producers then pay their suppliers with it and can employ labour tax free, thus boosting production. So Farmers Markets could soon occur more often and pretty soon you have the revival of the small fruit and vege store and butcher. Welcome back! Mainstreet is invigorated and the supermarkets that rip off the suppliers of produce take the hit. Meanwhile the local farmers and horticulturists have an incentive to go more and more spray free and organic and employ more labour.
The distribution of the land rental to the citizens through a Citizens Dividend will have a huge impact on poverty. Poor people will spend it on essentials, thus invigorating the local food growing industry. These dividends will eventually be quite big. In the end they will free citizens from boring jobs they dislike so they can take up something they really want to contribute – be it entertaining, art, creating inventions, volunteering or caring for an elderly parent. Mothers with factory jobs two bus rides away will be able to leave the job if they prefer to devote themselves to their family life.
Jobs will return to the provinces. Because when you build in an incentive to use local building materials and locally manufactured fertilisers there is no impediment to building a sawmill or a factory. Factories in Levin lie empty. The clothing manufacturing jobs went to the Pacific islands and to Asia long ago.
We know the changes we advocate in designing and creating a second national currency backed by land are massive. After all 79% of our government revenue is from either income tax, GST or company tax. We believe that you should pay for what you hold or take and not for what you do or make. We need to share the rents of land and the harness the power of monopoly. We need to design and issue our own currency and not let the private banks keep control.
Health and Education
When essential food items become more affordable the health of the population improves. The Asian takeaways that line the streets of the small poorer centres will gradually disappear as young mothers are empowered through their Citizens Dividend. Remember the plan is to give the children’s dividend to the primary carer, which is most often the mother. Once the Citizens Dividend rises to the stage where it frees the mother financially, she can choose further education, once again benefitting the children too. Our population will end up healthier and better educated.