New Zealand still waiting for a coherent Green New Deal

Green Party Small Business Spokesperson, Kevin Hague, welcomed the Government's announcement of provisional tax relief measures to help small and medium businesses, but said that what was really needed was the kind of coherent 'Green New Deal' recently expounded by Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman. (Refer to: http://www.greens.org.nz/node/20488)

“While we haven't had the opportunity to study the full detail of the measures announced by the Government, the main items they have highlighted are useful and are to be welcomed. So much the pity, then, that some of their other actions in Government, such as their axing of the R&D tax credit, which was opposed by Treasury and by the Greens, will undermine many small and medium-sized enterprises. It certainly seems as if the Government is so fixated on its 100 day programme that it is tripping over itself and not acting in a coherent way.”

Key recommendations amongst them that the Greens would expedite through this financial crisis include:
· The re-introduction of the research and development tax credits to encourage smart, sustainable growth for the long term.
· Supporting businesses to adopt sustainable certification programmes for products and processes to enable us to better compete with overseas companies.
· Providing preferential tax treatment for green technologies, low emission vehicles, and other sustainable practices.
· Requiring country of origin labelling of food and greater support for “Buy Kiwi Made” initiatives.

“The solutions to the economic problems we face will not be found in the kinds of ideas that generated them in the first place, but in the sustainable economics promoted by the Green Party, which are currently gaining traction around the world as countries try to find genuine solutions. It would be great if the Government lifted its gaze sufficiently to consider them.

These provisional tax relief measures announced today are positive, but there is only so much tax cutting the Government can do for business before they cut off the hand that feeds them. “The government risks undermining the long-term tax base that will ultimately pay for all these proposed new stimulus measures. Tie tax relief to sustainability, and you transition the economy to one that will still be working for future generations.”