What is really surprising is that the Greens Party of NZ actually offers the best outline of its policy - see its website here. Presentation however is one thing; so let's look at the detail.
1. Equal tax burden - they want to adopt an ecological tax.
This strikes me as a silly idea, and its hard to fathom how they would achieve an 'equal tax', or what it would look like. They also want to have a $10,000 tax free exemption; which strikes me as realistic given the amount of rates ($2,000 per annum) that people pay, however this needs to be better spent.
2. Capital gains tax - they don't say what their tax rate would be - but it would exclude the family home and it is probably greater than Labour's 15%. John Key argues that taxing assets with a capital gains tax will result in people 'gifting' assets to their kids or sticking them in corporate structures. It is a fair criticism.
3. Monetary policy - The Greens are actually the only party I reviewed which is against asset price bubbles it seems. I laud them for that; the question is how they intend to prevent it.
Of course the problem with the Greens is that they are a party which is 'untested', so who knows what they could do in power.
4. Conservative 'green' policies - My concern about the Greens is that they strike my as another green 'Conservative' party. Why? They doubtlessly will have no intellectual framework for advancing their values. i.e. Promotion of national brands strikes one as nationalism, but maybe they have a 'local' desire for sustainability. This is of course the problem. What value is not sustainable?
5. Nationalist policies - They want to restrict land ownership and trade on silly nationalistic terms.
6. Human rights - They can be lauded along with the other parties for their support for political rights; but repudiated by their lack of protection for economic rights.
7. Climate change - The idea that 'our greenhouse gases must be cut as quickly as possible' strikes one as a policy which is intended to enslave humanity.
Interesting, despite some favourable aspects to the Greens, they contain elements of the worst aspects of the other parties, i.e. The dogmatism of Conservatism, the ignorant welfare statism of Labour, and the nationalism of the ACT Party. They offer a clearer outline of their policies than all the other parties, but then perhaps that is where it ends in terms of coherence. The greatest risk of a Green Party is not knowing what they are capable of in power. They are an untested quantity.
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