20 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, human capital, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, public economics
Tags: family tax credits, lost decades, taxation and the labour supply
21% would have been a good guess of the average and marginal tax rates of the New Zealand single earner or couple including with children and even a second earner in 2001. New Zealand average and marginal tax rates have been on a wild ride since the year 2000.
Sources: OECD StatExtract and OECD Taxing Wages.
As the above chart shows, while the average tax rate of a single earner with no children is pretty much unchanged at about 20%, he now faces a marginal tax rate of 30% or more rather than 21% in 2001.
For a married couple with one income, as the above chart shows, their average tax rate has been about zero for a good 10 years now but their net marginal tax rate is a good 50% or more because of abatement rates on family tax credits, which is a skewed incentive situation. A large income effect from the family tax credit encourages the consumption of leisure but a high marginal tax rate discourages working more.
Sources: OECD StatExtract and OECD Taxing Wages.
For two earner couples, their average tax rates have fallen because of family tax credits but their marginal tax rates have gone through the roof as the above chart shows. A tax system that discourages quite severely any further work or investment in human capital by average earners may have adverse effects on the long-term trend growth rate of New Zealand.
20 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, Public Choice, rentseeking
Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, bootleggers and baptists, green rent seeking, Henry Hazlett, makework bias, methodology of economics, philosophy of economics
18 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle
Tags: competition as a discovery procedure, economics of science, industry policy, losers, picking winners, R&D, The meaning of competition, The pretence the knowledge
18 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, liberalism, resource economics
Tags: commodity prices, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, Julian Simon, peak oil, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact, William Buckley
18 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economic history, economics of information, economics of media and culture, growth disasters, growth miracles, liberalism
Tags: antimarket bias, Bryan Caplan, capitalism and freedom, life expectancies, living standards, pessimism bias, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
18 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economic history, environmental economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics
Tags: child mortality, global poverty, infant mortality, life expectancies, stream poverty, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
17 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economic history, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmentalism, health economics, liberalism, resource economics
Tags: capitalism and freedom, commodity prices, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, Julian Simon, life expectancies, peak oil, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
17 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, public economics
Tags: ageing society, company tax rate, deadweight cost of taxes, demographic crisis, efficient markets hypothesis, laffer curve, New Zealand superannuation fund, old age pensions, retirement savings, social insurance, sovereign wealth funds, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, the sovereign wealth fund part funding New Zealand’s old-age pension from 2029/2030 onwards, has been a bit of a wild ride. Sometimes the earnings of the Fund were well below and sometimes earning well above the long-term bond rate.
![image_thumb[3]](https://utopiayouarestandinginit.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/image_thumb3_thumb.png?w=709&h=442 "image_thumb[3]")
Source: New Zealand Superannuation Fund Annual Report 2014.
Since its inception, the Fund earned an average annual return of 9.78%, which was 5.06% above the long-term bond rate, and 1.03% above its reference portfolio.
No information was given in the annual report of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund on the marginal dead weight cost of the taxes raised to fund the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to see whether there is any net benefit to taxpayers from its establishment and continued operation.
The New Zealand Government has contributed $14.88 billion to the fund from prior its inception in 2001 to the suspension of contributions in 2009 by the incoming National Party Government.
Source: New Zealand Treasury.
Over the nine years in which contributions were made, the company tax rate of 28% could have easily been up to 10 percentage points lower.
The New Zealand Treasury estimates that a one percentage point cut in the company tax costs about $220 million in forgone revenue if there are no other changes to the tax system. These are static estimates that do not include any feedback from greater investment and higher growth.
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund must beat the market every single year to make up for the deadweight cost of its funding, a premium for the investment risk added to the Crown’s portfolio and the cost to New Zealand’s growth rate of higher than otherwise taxes on income, entrepreneurship and investment.
Source: Abolish the Corporate Income Tax – The New York Times.
17 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, energy economics, environmental economics, history of economic thought
Tags: climate alarmism, conjecture and ref patient, global warming, methodology of economics, philosophy of science, philosophy of social sciences
The Logic of Science
We are constantly told that “everyone has a right to their opinion” and “there are two sides to every story.” Our entire news system is predicated on the notion that we need to give fair time to both sides of every situation. The problem with this type of thinking is that it leads to the misconception that both sides are equally valid, or, at the very least, that there must be some truth to both sides, but in many cases, only one side has any merit. In other words, it’s often not opinion #1 vs. opinion #2, rather, it is fact vs. fiction. One “side” is reality, while the other “side” is a fairy tail. For example, if you want to say that the island of Jamaica is being carried around on the back of giant sea turtle, that’s not your opinion, you’re just wrong. There wouldn’t be two legitimate…
View original post 1,489 more words
16 Aug 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic growth, fiscal policy, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics
Tags: Eurosclerosis, Frantz, social insurance, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply, unemployment insurance, welfare state
Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries
![image_thumb[3]](https://utopiayouarestandinginit.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/image_thumb310.png "image_thumb[3]")
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments