It's Fair, I Tell You!

Boasting in Curses

New Zealand lies under a curse.  Just how powerful a curse is made evident from time to time.  Here is the latest indication:  the current Minister of Finance boasting in Parliament about how few people in this country pay tax, and how steeply redistributive our taxation system has become.  This boasting comes from a leader in the so-called conservative, centre-right government! 

Here is the boast:

Michael Woodhouse: Which groups now pay most of the tax collected by the Government?
Hon BILL ENGLISH: Our tax and transfer system is highly redistributive, and the number of people paying income tax is surprisingly small. The lowest-income 43 percent of households currently receive more in income support than they pay in income tax. The 1.3 million households with incomes under $110,000 a year collectively pay no net tax—that is, their total income support payments match their combined income tax. The top 10 percent of households contribute over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers—over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers. This system is highly redistributive and we believe it is fair.

When a government boasts that ten percent of households are paying over 70 percent of income tax, net of transfers and claims that this extreme form of extortion and redistribution is fair we see how far down into the pit New Zealand has fallen.  No wonder New Zealanders are leaving the country in droves.  No wonder the smart Maori left a long time ago.  No wonder our cumulative balance of payments has been negative for decades. 

It gets worse.  The government boasts in its envy-ridden policies, but it has fallen into the trap of all socialists: in the end the money has run out.  You reach a point where you just cannot extort any more from the wealthier. The goose has no more golden eggs to lay.  But the spending continues on.  Socialism always runs out of other people's money in the end.

We are well past that point now.  We are borrowing flat out to keep up the living standard which we believe is fair--that is, to which we think we are entitled.   Oh what sweet music we make while Rome burns.  We curse the wealthier amongst us, expropriating their wealth and bestowing it upon other, and boast about how wonderful we are.  Then, when that fails to raise enough money, we turn round and curse our children and grandchildren with our debt.  They will have to pay for our lusts and demands.  Where, pray tell, Mr English is the fairness in that.  Oh, but we forgot.  If you have a moral compass that justifies stealing from the wealthiest 10 percent of households to fund our indulgences and lusts, what is so bad about extending the expropriating arm of theft to our children and grandchildren?  Nothing at all.  There is no honour amongst thieves.  When a culture becomes racked with envy and willingly curses its own children--boasting of its justice in so doing--evil has indeed become regnant. 

The Bible calls down God's judgment upon those who call evil, good and good, evil.  Enslavement beckons. 

Hat Tip: Kiwiblog