Tuesday, 01 July 2025 10:25

Trust us!

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: Ther'es a reason politicians rank even lower than John Campbell in the most trusted profession surveys.

Just when we think they've kicked an unpopular policy to touch, they repackage it and try to sneak it past the goalkeeper in a different form.

The current mob tried with its climate change taxation of the rural sector and are at it again with 'Ute Tax 2.0'.

Fed Farmers wants Revenue Minister Simon Watts to urgently rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that will apply to utes and could cost farmers thousands of dollars, ongoing.

Feds say the previous Ute Tax was bad enough, but at least it was a one-off cost.

These new FBT charges would be annual and cost farmers an arm and a leg each year.

With their polls cratering, National need to put the IRD back on the chain.

More like this

Wrong focus

OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.

Burn the village

OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."

Purist problem

OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.

Drill baby, drill!

OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.

Trop de Paris!

OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.

Featured

National

Machinery & Products

A reliable, no-fuss workhorse

Showcased with a T7.245 at the recent National Fieldays, New Holland has expanded its T7 tractor range offering in New…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Wrong focus

OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is…

Burn the village

OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter