Monthly Archives: May 2017

Media release Staples Rodway

Tax Freedom Day shows Kiwis paying 9.5% more tax year-on-year

Bracket creep costs taxpayers an extra $1,700 per year, or the equivalent of a flat white each day

Auckland, 8 May 2017 Today marks the day that New Zealanders have collectively paid off their tax bill for the year and can keep the rest of their income for themselves in what has been coined national Tax Freedom Day.

Each year New Zealand accounting and business advisory firm Staples Rodway calculates when Tax Freedom Day will fall by analysing GDP, tax revenue and current tax brackets which determine the rate of tax people pay on their income.

This year Tax Freedom Day falls six days later than last year, meaning people are effectively paying more tax than they did in 2016. The total amount Kiwis paid in taxes has increased by 9.5 percent year-on-year, more than double the increase of last year, alongside a 5.1 percent increase in nominal GDP.

Staples Rodway Director of Tax Mike Rudd says the higher tax bill is reflective of companies turning over higher profits and therefore contributing to growth in government revenue.

Our methodology shows the true impact of the government on your back pocket each year. Most of the growth in government tax revenue has come from the corporate sector. By the end of February this year, corporate tax collected was already 25 percent higher than in the year to March 2016. In the absence of any major tax changes in the last year, this can only be a sign of a well performing New Zealand economy in spite of uncertainty on the global horizon.

Bracket creep is also having an impact as a result of inflation pushing wages and salaries into higher tax brackets, leading to a fiscal drag situation. This means that a person earning the average national wage is paying nearly 3 percent more in tax than they did in 2011. That is, the overall tax rate on the average national wage was 15.41 percent in 2011 but is now 18.27 percent, an increase of 18.5 percent.

Had the marginal tax brackets moved in line with wage growth, the average wage earner would have an extra $33 in their pocket per week. Thats $1,700 per year or the equivalent of your daily flat white. Instead, this money has gone to central government.

We are hearing that the government is considering providing some relief to the taxpayer in this years Budget to be delivered on May 25. Our hope is that this will include adjusting tax brackets to account for inflation over the past nine years since the last adjustment, Rudd says.

There are also calls for the government to ensure that tax brackets are adjusted for inflation on a continual basis, something which is expected to receive support from other political parties.

Across the ditch, Australians have higher marginal tax rates and a higher corporate tax rate, although the combination of lower GST (10 percent) and a nil tax threshold, means that the tax burden is lower than that of the New Zealand taxpayer. Australias Tax Freedom Day fell on April 13 this year, compared to April 23 for the US.

Ends

Note to editors

Please see attached infographics. Staples Rodway acknowledges that there are other methods to calculate Tax Freedom Day. However, these measures include debt funded capital spending and expenditure by state owned enterprises and do not measure the true impact of the Government on your back pocket each year.

About Staples Rodway

Staples Rodway is a New Zealand-wide network of accountancy and business advisory firms providing practical, responsive, and business-focussed services to a broad range of clients from start-ups to significant businesses across all industry types.

Scoop Media

Read more from the original source:

Tax Freedom Day shows Kiwis paying 9.5% more tax year-on-yea - Scoop.co.nz (press release)

House SpeakerPaul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) showed up onThis Week on Sunday for what ended up being a testy debate over healthcare. Does the American Health Care Act hurt people with pre-existing conditions? HostGeorge Stephanopoulossuggested it could, but his interjections aggravated the Speaker.

Under this bill, no matter what, you cannot be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, Ryan said. Nor under this bill

But you can charge people more, Stephanopoulos suggested.

Let me finish my point, the Speaker said. You cant charge people more if they keep continuous coverage. The key of having a continuous coverage provision is to make sure that people stay covered and move from one plan to the next if they want to.

He said this would keep costs down, but Stephanopoulos suggested that people can losecoverage through no fault of their own.

Just let me finish my point, George, Ryan said. I was just getting there until you cut me off.

He pointed out the part of the bill concerning waivers for states that want to allow insurers to charge higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions. The fix is the federally-fundedpool for high-risk patients, Ryan said.

The House passed the American Health Care Act on Thursday by a close 217 213 vote. Despite commanding a 238 to 193 majority, GOPers had trouble pushing this long-promised repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Fiscal conservatives from the Freedom Caucus said the new AHCA didnt do enough to strip back the Obama-era legislation. Some moderate Republicans ended up supporting the new bill, however, because an amendment added more money to the high-risk pool.

Opponents of the new bill said this pool, currently sitting at $138 billion, wont be enough to protect people with pre-existing conditions in states that obtain waivers.

The AHCA will now make its way to the Senate. Republicans command a 52 to 48 majority over the Democratic caucus. Critics of the Affordable Care Act have pointed to recent events where insurers pulled out of Obamacare exchanges. Iowa, for example, is down to one major provider, and that onemay leave.

Update May 7, 10:34 a.m.:We added context in regard to insurers pulling out of Affordable Care Act exchanges.

[Screengrab via ABC]

Excerpt from:

'Let Me Finish My Point': Ryan Flustered by Stephanopoulos Over Healthcare Bill Questions - LawNewz

COLUMBIA Three candidates remain in South Carolina's highly contested special congressional election to succeed Mick Mulvaney, a race that will determine whether the Republican Party maintains control of a seat they have held since the rise of the tea party or if the Democrats can flip a district that was once solidly blue.

With five Republican challengers out of the race following Tuesday's primary, GOP voters will now have to choose between state Rep. Tommy Pope and former lawmaker Ralph Norman, both of Rock Hill, in a runoff election on May 16.

Democrat Archie Parnell, a former tax attorney and congressional staffer from Sumter who beat two primary foes last week,will get a head start in the June 20 general election.

Whoever wins the special election will weigh in on a number of legislative priorities that Donald Trump's administration has yet to advance out of the president's first 100 days. Trump's promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has yet to materialize. A long-discussed tax reform package has yet to be unveiled in Congress.

The president's proposed spending plan, which Mulvaney crafted as his new budget director, has yet to get vote, though the plan has already received criticism for slashing domestic spending for after-school programs and Meals on Wheels.

A Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act passed the House on Thursday, but the plan is being questioned already by some senators, meaninghealth care issues will likely loom in Congress at least through the end of the year.

Congressional special elections also are being watched closely this year as Democrats in Kansas and Georgia nearly pulled off upsets in heavily Republican districts.

Republican Runoff

If the primary is any indication, the GOP runoff election between Pope and Norman is going to be close. The two lawmakers each pulled in more than 11,000 votes with just 135 ballots separating them.

The crowded Republican primary grabbed attention because of controversial ads released byfifth-place Republican finisher Sheri Few. But in the end, the two recent state legislators won.

Two extremely well-known candidates in the front dominated this race, said Scott Huffmon, a political science professor at Winthrop University.

Pope and Norman both benefited, Huffmon said, from the name recognition they maintained from their 2016 campaigns for the state Legislature. Living in the most populated region of the 11-county congressional district also gave them a leg up.

York County accounted for 43 percent of the ballotscastin the entire special primary election. Pope and Norman picked up a large majority of that support, with each pulling in two-thirds of their votesin York County. The 5th District stretches from Rock Hill to Sumter.

Norman, a real estate developer, has tried to run to the right of Pope and has attempted to emulate Mulvaney, who won the district with 59 percent of the vote last fall. If elected, Normanplans to join the fiscal conservative U.S. House Freedom Caucus.

If you're interested in duplicating what Mick Mulvaney did, the choice is obviously me, Norman said.

Norman has attacked Pope for joining 96 other state lawmakers in voting for a gas tax increase in the Legislature in order to fix South Carolina's roadways. Norman didn't have to vote on that issue this year. He resigned from his Statehouse seat to run for Congressbefore the roads plan vote.

Pope, in turn, has run his campaign focusing on police, immigration and national security issues, while playing up his time as a South Carolina state solicitor. He says he likely wouldn't join the Freedom Caucus, and sees himself as more deliberative than Norman.

"Doing what's right and what's best is not always politically expedient," Pope said. "I think that's what will differentiate me from my opponent. I'm going to make a hard decision, not just a convenient decision."

Head start for Democrat

Parnell, a businessman who worked with Goldman Sachs and Exxon Mobil, has momentum heading into the upcoming general election, where he has shown an eagerness to use Mulvaney's proposed budget and the new Republican health care bill against either GOP opponent.

"They are refusing to take a stand on today's D.C. health bill that increases costs, cuts coverage, and is a giveaway to big insurance companies. I oppose that," said Parnell, who captured more than 70 percent of the Democratic primary vote last week.

Even so, it's likely to be a tough race for the new Democratic nominee with the district's makeup and the influx of wealthier, white voters from the Charlotte area.

"This district is just a difficult uphill climb even in the best of circumstances," said Huffmon, "and this special off-year election is not the best of circumstances.

There were 20,500 more ballots cast for the seven Republicans in the primary than there were for the three Democrats, which could make the math difficult for Parnell in the general election.

The Republicans aren't taking Parnell's candidacy lightly, however, after watching other special election races, including Georgia's 6th District outside Atlanta, where a Democrat nearly won an open primary outright.

You look at what happened in Georgia, you look what happened all over the country, Norman said. "People are still mad."

See the original post here:

Fighting for the 5th District: GOP foes battle in runoff while Democrat gets general election head start - Charleston Post Courier

A spending package to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year passedthrough the House Wednesday despite a lack of support from a host of Republicans who hold the majority.

Lawmakers voted 309-118in favorof the bill, with 15 Democrats and 103 Republicans opposing.

Just before the vote, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan spoke on the floor to encourage all members tosupport the bill and then return the chamber to regular order by passing individual spending measures.

Lets turn the page on this last year, the Wisconsin Republican said.

The $1.1 trillion omnibus includes the remaining 11 annual appropriation bills that will fund agencies and Congress for rest of fiscal 2017, which ends Sept. 30. The vote came two days before a funding deadline that would have shut down the government if the measure stalled any further.

[Omnibus Agreement Details $1 Trillion in FY 2017 Spending]

The bill sends $593 billion to defense and an additional $1.5 billion for border security but does not fund President Donald Trumps proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ryan Makes Last Appeal for GOP Votes on Spending Bill

Instead, some of the money will go toward replacing existing structures along the border, such as fencing and new road construction. The funding bill also provides a permanent solution for health care for coal miners and aid for health care needs in Puerto Rico.

[How the Omnibus Became a Democratic Wish List]

Lawmakers reached a bipartisan deal and released text of the 1,665-page bill late Sunday evening with each side, including the White House, proclaiming their own wins in the spending package.

The next day, several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said they would vote against funding the government, making Democratic support of the spending measure essential. Conservatives cited concerns the billdid not include enough of Trumps priorities, including the border wall.

[Republicans Claim Their Own Victories in Omnibus Talks]

Rep. Lou Barletta said the agreement reached by lawmakers offered each side wins and losses. He touted money for border security, the military and funds to fight the opioid epidemic.

Theres too many things in there that I like, to vote against the things that arent in it that I would like, the Pennsylvania Republican said.

But House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, and a host of members from his conservative group, said they would vote against the omnibus.

The issue is a lack of conservative priorities, Meadows said.

The measure now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass with little fanfare on Thursday. It will then land on the presidents desk for his signature, which White House officials have indicated he will sign.

Bridget Bowman contributed to this report.Contact Rahman atremarahman@cqrollcall.comor follow her on Twitter at@remawriter.

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House Passes $1 Trillion Spending Bill - Roll Call

PHOENIX -- State lawmakers gave final approval late Thursday to a $9.82 billion spending plan for the coming year.

The budget is fueled with anticipated revenues of $9.68 billion. But that is being supplemented by 171 million that lawmakers hope to have left over when the current fiscal year ends on June 30.

One of the highlights is a 1 percent pay hike for teachers for the coming fiscal year at a cost of $34 million.

The actual increase will be 1.06 percent. Thats because some school districts have enough local revenues so they get no state aid at all and will have to fund the pay hikes out of their own tax collections. So the difference is being redistributed to the other school districts.

An identical 1.06 percent increase will kick in the following school year.

The increase is above the 0.4 percent annual boost for five years proposed by Gov. Doug Ducey. But Democrats, citing the states low teacher wages, were unsuccessful in getting the increase raised to 4 percent.

The budget also includes one-time additional aid to universities of $15 million.

But theres really less here than meets the eye. Thats because the schools got $19 million in one-time dollars last year.

And of that $15 million, $2 million is earmarked to fund "economic freedom schools at the University of Arizona and Arizona State Universities, schools started with seed money from the Koch brothers.

There also is authorization for the universities to borrow $1 billion for needed construction and repairs. But there is no immediate fiscal impact, with the first promised state aid of $27 million to repay those bonds coming in the following budget year.

Other highlights of the state budget include

- Results-based funding bonuses for certain public schools -- $37.6 million, a program some opponents say disproportionately rewards schools in affluent areas

- Additional dollars for health care providers to deal with higher minimum wage -- $33 million plus $10 million one-time spending

- Move dollars from a special ADOT account to instead fund highway construction and repair -- $30 million

- Provides $62.9 million to construct six new schools

- $3 million to expand broadband into rural areas

Go here to read the rest:

$9.8B state budget includes teacher pay hike, school bonuses - Today's News-Herald