No new taxes?

"Some experts have declared that it is necessary to tax
the people until it hurts. I disagree with these sadists."
~ Ludwig Von Mises, from his essay ‘Defense, Controls, and Inflation’

National's boy-leader promises "no new taxes" in the event he is one day elected. His one-time mentor John Key once promised the same. Not longer afterwards, we were subjected to:

• a GST increase from 12.5% to 15%
• a new GST on items purchased online from overseas
• a new Telecommunications Levy
• a new Border Clearance Levy
• capital gains tax on houses sold after owning for less than two years
• increased taxes on KiwiSaver
• the 2012 ‘Paperboy’ tax
• a Civil Aviation Authority fees increase
• an additional fuel tax increase of 9 cents per litre, with annual CPI increases locked in for perpetuity
• Road User Charges increased
• tobacco excise whacked up
• massive increases in ACC levies
• new online company filing fees
• a creeping expansion of the scope of Fringe Benefit Taxes; and, most recently
• the so-called "Netflix tax" on services, media or software purchased from an overseas online retailer.

And those are only the ones I noticed.

So much as we may wish to believe the boy-leader, your average Nigerian scammer would be more likely to deliver on their promises.

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