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The political parties have pressed go on their election campaigns and every morning from now until November 7th, we'll have a full smorgasbord of party promises to pick over. Lucky, lucky us.
Of course, most of them aren't worth the paper they're printed on. The minor parties have the luxury of promising you a pony and a castle and fairy bread for the rest of your life, then when it comes time to stump up after the election, they'll be all, "Oh, soz, we really wanted to, but those mean Nats/Labourites wouldn't let us. Sorry." So everything you hear, take with a grain of salt.
And everything the two main parties promise, ask yourself how they expect us to pay for it, because they won't be paying for it out of their party war chests. We will be. You and me. So when the policies come out from National and Labour, think like a supermodel – one of the OG supermodels, Linda Evangelista, famously said, "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day." And that was back in the 80's, that would be serious coin now. Ask yourself when you hear the policies promised by National and Labour, "is this worth me getting out of bed for to do a full day's work and pay my taxes?"
Back to the breakfast buffet of election promises. New Zealand First says it will cut the tax rate for small businesses by almost a third, from 28 to 20%. The reduced rate would apply to companies with a turnover under $30 million, which sounds like small businesses are pretty big businesses. They say, New Zealand First, it will cost a billion dollars, but that will be more than returned with increased productivity, long term investment, and increase in labour demand, employment, and wages.
But what would you do if your tax was cut by 8%? Where would you put that extra money? Because it comes back to the reason why you started your own business, became your own boss. Is it to be the next Bill Gates? There are a number of you that I've talked to over the years who could grow your businesses, but you don't want the hassle. You could take on more staff, but you don't want to. Once your business gets to a certain turnover, you want to kick back and enjoy life, coach the kids' sport, take time off during the holidays. It's the batch, the boat, the BMW mentality. You have enough for the life you want to live. You don't want to invest in new capital or more staff or do more hours or pack your bags and head overseas and hustle for the next contract. Why? You've achieved a level of comfort that you're happy with. You don't want to be a billionaire.
What does success look like to you? If you became your own boss, if you set up your own business, what was that for? To give you freedom? To give you independence? To make a fortune? If New Zealand First got this one over the line in a coalition agreement with National or Labour, what would you do with that extra 8%? Do like New Zealand First believes you will, reinvest it back in the business? Or would you use it to just live your best life, get there faster? And I'd love to know the motivation behind setting up your own business. For the people who've phoned me over the years, it's been about lifestyle, about making your own choices, making your own decisions. It's not been about chasing the buck, but I'd love to hear from you.
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Another positive annual result for Fonterra despite challenging weather conditions and global volatility.
The dairy co-op's confirmed a total cash return to shareholders of $19.6 billion.
The final Farmgate Milk Price payout for dairy farmers is $9.69, down from a record-high payout of $10.16 last year.
DairyNZ CEO Campbell Parker told Ryan Bridge the results reflect not only strong strategy, but strong execution.
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Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook and Instagram, has launched its own new AI-powered assistant.
Muse went to number one on the app stores and it's generated plenty of interest, but not everyone's a fan.
Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explained further - and revealed why Amazon has cut the agent off its platform.
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Fonterra's boss believes the dairy co-op remains in a strong position, following the sell-off of its consumer brands.
It's confirmed a 23.6 percent rise in annual underlying operation profit.
CEO Richard Allen says these recent results are good news for New Zealand, as it means more money entering the economy and a good reward for Kiwi farmers.
"It's a great result - we've been very clear on, I guess, our strategy, focused B2B since our divestment and our B2B businesses have had a great year."
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NZ First want taxes slashed for small and medium businesses in order to increase productivity.
The party will campaign on lowering the rate from 28 percent to 20 - for businesses turning over less than $30 million dollars.
Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says there's a case for making this change, as Australia tried something similar for small to medium enterprises.
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