Dirty Politics: Ipsos Pollsters confess to The Platform that 87% of Kiwis Oppose Capital Taxes "in some form", but Radio NZ reported 67% "Support Them".

State owned broadcaster, Radio NZ, reported in no uncertain terms, with Big Bold Headline, "Survey of 1000 people shows 65% would support Capital Gains Tax". It stated, "A new survey shows the tax tide could be turning. An IPSOS survey of 1003 people this month shows 65 percent of those questioned would support a Capital Gains Tax or CGT". Then in another article it said, 'Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would support a CGT "in some form"'. What a pack of lies. Worst of all, Radio NZ put in quote marks, "in some form". They scrummaged that line from Ipsos, which used it in its report. But Ipsos never asked people, "Do you Support Capital Taxes in Some Form?". When you put words in quote marks, its ethical code you must be reporting from what was said. But it was not. The words were made up. Even News Talk ZB got into false reporting, interviewing the PM under headlines, "Discussions about introducing a capital gains tax keep cropping up, and over 65% of Kiwis support the idea, according to new polls". False.

Whilst being interviewed by Sean Punklett on The Platform Radio Show, DownToEarth.Kiwi called out Ipsos & Radio NZ. Sean's top investigator, Ben Espiner, now reports, "How you were gaslit by the media and a Polling Company". Ben called Ipsos. They have confessed that 87% oppose capital taxes ("in some form", which never was the wording). Confused? Ipsos asked if people supported capital taxes in a range of situations. Only a tiny minority supported them on one's house, a minority on boats, cars and art, and a minority on businesses. The only majority was on investment properties, at just 57%. But NZ already has capital taxes on investment taxes - the public argument is simply over how long you should be able to own them to come under the tax. So the Ipsos Poll boringly just reflected the status-quo in NZ and supported the National Party's position on capital taxes. But Radio NZ reported the news as being that the "tax tide" was "turning" on capital taxes. There is no suggestion at all of that being the case in the survey.

What is Dirty Politics is that Prime Minister Luxon was assailed by Main Stream Media journalists as being out-of-touch with the people's views on capital taxes, and made him look bad. Luxon said that Kiwis were not keen on such taxes applying to their own home, businesses and Kiwi Saver accounts. What Luxon stated was exactly in line with the findings of the Ipsos Poll - though Big Media told him it was not. Okay, we get it. Radio NZ and One News want Labour to be elected in a few years time on a platform to whack in capital taxes on "the rich", just like their mates in the UK Labour Party, to "rebuild" public services, no doubt which includes, to them, the State Owned Broadcasters. But the whole point of State-owned broadcasters is that, unlike private broadcasters, they should try their best to report objectively and not favor one Party over another. If Radio NZ wont do that, what is the point of it? It should be defunded, privatized and left to fail on its own.

Sources:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018961806/survey-of-1000-people-shows-65-would-support-capital-gains-tax

https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/rob-macculloch-on-misleading-reports-on-kiwis-support-for-a-cgt

https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/ben-espiner-explains-how-you-were-gaslit-by-media-a-polling-company

rmacculloch

Nov 2, 20243 min read

NZ's Economy is being smashed since the RBNZ has bizarrely admitted it is in breach of its own Remit. A former Chair of US President's Council of Economic Advisers has explained why.

When you have the wrong Board Chair and wrong Governor of a Central Bank, who aren't up with state-of-art thinking about how interest rates should be set, its a recipe for throwing an economy into chaos. And so it is with NZ and our Reserve Bank. Last month the Bank cut the Official Cash Rate by 50 basis points. "Members [of the Monetary Policy Committee] agreed that an OCR of 4.75 percent is still restrictive". In common language, that means you're still being bankrupted by your mortgage costs, all for the cause of further crushing inflation. The Bank stated in its October Summary Meeting Record, "Members are confident inflation is converging to target". The Meeting keeps repeating the word "converging", over and over again: "The Committee assesses that annual consumer price inflation is within its 1 to 3 percent inflation target range and converging on the 2 percent midpoint".

These lines are in formal breach of the Reserve Bank's Remit, and hence the legal authority under which the Bank is bound to act. What does its Remit say? It says that annual inflation should be kept "between 1 and 3 percent over the medium term, with a focus on keeping future inflation near the 2 per cent midpoint", as signed by Finance Minister Willis. Note the word "near", not "at". You may think this Blog is about to make a small point, but you will be surprised. According to the author of the world's most popular text-book in economics and former Chair of the US President's Council of Economic Advisers, Greg Mankiw, its a very important point. So much so, that its behind the crushing of the Kiwi economy. What's the reasoning? Inflation in NZ is 2.2% and the Governor and his Monetary Policy committee have declared they've not yet achieved their target - only that "inflation is converging" to it - but we aren't there right now. In their view, NZ is still missing it by 0.2% (= 2.2% - 2.0%). That's what "converging" means. But what does the Remit (and law) say? It certainly does not say the Bank has to converge to a 2.0% inflation rate, only get "near" to 2%.

The Reserve Bank's way of thinking, aside from being illegal, is damaging our economy due to its effect on interest rates. Ask people drowning under mortgage stress. A few months ago, Mr. Mankiw penned an influential article (below) stating," I feel strongly that a target of 2% is superior to a target of 2.0%. The difference between these targets, of course, is the number of significant digits. If you recall science classes in high school, you learned that the number of digits a person reports should reflect the precision of their estimate. Central bankers often forget that lesson. They sometimes speak as if they are targeting an inflation rate of 2.00 percent. It would be better if Central Bankers admitted how imprecise their ability to control inflation is. They shouldn't be concerned if inflation falls to 1.6. That rounds up to 2. And they should be ready to declare victory in fighting inflation when the inflation rate gets back to 2.5%. As the adage goes, that is good enough for government work".

Mankiw is unequivocal. When inflation is measured at 2.2%, as it is currently in NZ, you've already fully hit your targets. It rounds to 2%. We're already at the Remit's "mid-point". NZ is not "converging" to it, unless you make the mistake, like the RBNZ, of thinking inflation can be accurately measured & controlled to several decimal places, which it can't. The RBNZ thinks we're at 2.2% inflation & it has to get us to 2.0%. That's nonsense. Keeping monetary policy at a "restrictive level", continuing to "engineer a recession", because we're still "converging" to target tells me one thing: the Chairman & Governor of the Bank aren't up with the play and are causing untold harm as we speak. The law instructs the Bank to keep inflation "near" 2% - not at 2.0%. To keep "restrictive monetary policy", financially strangling Kiwis, arguing its necessary because inflation has still not hit the target, breaches the Bank's Remit. My view is that, as such, the RBNZ Board & Governor should be dismissed.