nope...just a bigger cookie jar...and MAYBE some beefed up social services to help those that go belly up.

GO TEAM!!

Agreed...should not be limited to just male or female...even though as far as the law is concerned there is no 'third' category for the LGBT...maybe the wording should have in there...regardless of sexual preference? Or that there are no separate rules or regulations, implied or otherwise, on an individual based on their sexual preferences?

I'm actually more concerned about Bill #3, at least with a married couple, there is a legal bond their that in THEORY links the child to both parents...out of wedlock though, about the only thing for certain would be this child came out of the this woman, it is definitely 100% hers. Are they going to go down the path of requiring DNA tests to confirm the paternity claim? Hey, if it is going to be that technical, and DNA is used, I have no problem with #3...otherwise you could have Bahamian fellas laying claim to just about every stray child...could be a good profitable business plan! ;-)

Sadly that is very very true. He single handedly screwed it up the first time it was presented years ago...no due to differing circumstances, he is going to doom it again.

I must say, it's a pretty sad state of affairs. I voted YES when HAI brought the referendum up last time about equality...not because of political bias, but because the women...and if you want to carry it one step further, the gays, should have equal rights...no one person should have less rights if they are a citizen of this country, or any country. Because PGC and his little band of idiots wanted to make a political statement they dumbified the masses (more than usual) and even got a majority of the female voters to vote no. Now the time has come to try it again. I will most likely vote, and unless they try to enact something super stupid out of the 4 things they are putting forth, I would like to vote YES for the whole equality thing...AGAIN. But, after the whole gambling debacle, and the deplorable governance so far, the masses are so demoralized about the entire process that I fear this next attempt at a referendum will be a laughable joke. I know the bloggers on this site are inherently biased and bitter, but just reading the previous comments, really makes you pick up on a serious vibe.

Yeap...VAT is a LAST resort after all the other tax models have been exhausted...on top of that the Freedom of Information Act needs to be in place well before that as well.

And oh yeah...hey...nice little cunning plan...if they get promoted, I would assume they would get a pay rise...when the lawsuit gets filed, and the overtime hours are calculated...the overtime will be paid out at their current wage rate...

So New Zealand says the way they assist the poor is through 'tax credits'...there in lies the problem...we have no income tax...people down at that line of property probably own homes that fall UNDER the RPT threshold, so they pay little to no RPT...there is no easy or effective way to issue a 'tax credit' because the tax our dear New Zealanders deal with is not there. Again, we are one of the ONLY countries in the world that is going to a complex VAT tax BEFORE having a solid income tax structure in place.

I think that you will find most wholesalers will fluctuate prices up and down depending on their actual landed cost...now, what the retailers do with the extra savings if there is a price drop at the wholesale end is another matter...many times questions are raised with retailers when a price stays the same on the shelf, when t he wholesale cost to them had dropped significantly.