on saturday is the second major muslim festival of eid-ul adha, a commemoration of the life of abraham. it also ties in with the hajj (pilgrimage to makkah, saudi arabia). it's a quieter celebration compared to eid-ul fitr which commemorates the end of ramadan. it's also a festival that is more about sharing.
as it happens, i have 4 things to be at on saturday, and have managed to get out of 2 of them, may not be able to avoid the 3rd and will most likely go to the 4th, which is to hear valerie browning talk about the plight of the afar people of africa. this is one of the joys of being a minority and having your festival days not recognised by the majority of the country. sometimes i wonder what it would be like to have the whole country celebrating with us. it's a feeling i miss, because i don't really identify with christmas so don't really feel a part of it. besides which, i find the whole commercial hype around that celebration to be quite frustrating.
still, i'm looking forward to a day set aside for friends and family. eid mubarak to you all.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
stifling dissent
many organisations have been facing budget cuts in the last year, particularly with the new government having a very difficult time balancing the budget. the pathways to partnership programme, which secured funding for NGO's over 4 years, has been cut. the labour government secured funding contracts for 3 years, but the current government has told service providers that contracts are "under constant review".
what this means is that those organisations are unable to criticise government policy or government funding cuts. to do so means the risk of losing what funding they have left, and people are scared to speak out. we already know that ministers in this government are quite prepared to directly attack individuals who dare to speak out, and to partially release personal information so that those individuals are subject to public abuse. organisations whose staff speak out face similar consequences, except that the impact is much more widespread ie clients who use the services and are often in desperate need will be the ones to miss out.
now this is a real attack on freedom of speech and on the right to political dissent. it means that the public is not accessing information they have a right to, because many of these cuts are not announced publicly by the government or they are announced so quietly that no-one knows about them. it's an appalling state of affairs.
what this means is that those organisations are unable to criticise government policy or government funding cuts. to do so means the risk of losing what funding they have left, and people are scared to speak out. we already know that ministers in this government are quite prepared to directly attack individuals who dare to speak out, and to partially release personal information so that those individuals are subject to public abuse. organisations whose staff speak out face similar consequences, except that the impact is much more widespread ie clients who use the services and are often in desperate need will be the ones to miss out.
now this is a real attack on freedom of speech and on the right to political dissent. it means that the public is not accessing information they have a right to, because many of these cuts are not announced publicly by the government or they are announced so quietly that no-one knows about them. it's an appalling state of affairs.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
mortgagee sales
mortgagee sales are at an all time high:
There were 343 mortgagee sales in September, a 130% jump from the 149 such sales in September 2008, according to Terralink International. In September 2007, before the recession started to bite, there were just 16 foreclosures.
“We’re likely to see mortgagee sales continue well into 2010,” said Phillip Borken, economist at ANZ National Bank. A struggling labour market and a steady increase in household debt are “key economic drivers behind the increase in forced sales.”
i heard a story today of a home that had been put up for a mortgagee sale. the people who were losing their home ended up taking out every single fitting they could get their hands on, including switches, fixed appliances, sink tops in the bathroom, in-built speakers. basically they gutted the house as well as they could and spoiled much of what was left.
i can't say that i approve of the destruction as such, but i do have a hard time finding any sympathy for the banks. what our friend from the anz national bank doesn't tell us is that banks were pushing loans on to people, forcing staff to meet targets of increased lending to consumers. these consumers were lead to believe that property was a sure thing, that capital gains were absolutely inevitable and that there was little risk involved.
they were also presented with the added incentive of tax losses that could be offset against other taxable income. under these conditions, i've seen plenty of people who are now seriously losing money on rental properties that were never a viable investment. even if they can keep up the interest payments, it's going to be a very long time before the capital gains will equal the amount they've paid out in interest.
as for the tax deductibility, you pay out $100 in interest, you get $39 back (assuming you're at the highest tax rate). that still means you've lost $61 dollars, and more if you're at a lower tax rate. the point is that property ownership is nowhere near risk-free, and particularly not when you're borrowing 100% of the purchase price.
many of the banks' customers certainly didn't have the background knowledge to be wary about this kind of thing. but the banks do have that kind of knowledge, and they failed to protect their customers or to follow sound practices. if they lose money on mortgagee sales now, in most cases it's pretty well deserved. it's just a pity that the people who took out the loans are also losing substantially as well.
as it is, it looks like the banks are still making plenty of money:
Household debt peaked at over 160% of households’ disposable income in 2008, nearly three times the level of December 1990, according to central bank figures. Debt currently stands at 152% of income, based on the latest quarterly figures.
which means that an awful lot of people are paying an awful lot of interest.
There were 343 mortgagee sales in September, a 130% jump from the 149 such sales in September 2008, according to Terralink International. In September 2007, before the recession started to bite, there were just 16 foreclosures.
“We’re likely to see mortgagee sales continue well into 2010,” said Phillip Borken, economist at ANZ National Bank. A struggling labour market and a steady increase in household debt are “key economic drivers behind the increase in forced sales.”
i heard a story today of a home that had been put up for a mortgagee sale. the people who were losing their home ended up taking out every single fitting they could get their hands on, including switches, fixed appliances, sink tops in the bathroom, in-built speakers. basically they gutted the house as well as they could and spoiled much of what was left.
i can't say that i approve of the destruction as such, but i do have a hard time finding any sympathy for the banks. what our friend from the anz national bank doesn't tell us is that banks were pushing loans on to people, forcing staff to meet targets of increased lending to consumers. these consumers were lead to believe that property was a sure thing, that capital gains were absolutely inevitable and that there was little risk involved.
they were also presented with the added incentive of tax losses that could be offset against other taxable income. under these conditions, i've seen plenty of people who are now seriously losing money on rental properties that were never a viable investment. even if they can keep up the interest payments, it's going to be a very long time before the capital gains will equal the amount they've paid out in interest.
as for the tax deductibility, you pay out $100 in interest, you get $39 back (assuming you're at the highest tax rate). that still means you've lost $61 dollars, and more if you're at a lower tax rate. the point is that property ownership is nowhere near risk-free, and particularly not when you're borrowing 100% of the purchase price.
many of the banks' customers certainly didn't have the background knowledge to be wary about this kind of thing. but the banks do have that kind of knowledge, and they failed to protect their customers or to follow sound practices. if they lose money on mortgagee sales now, in most cases it's pretty well deserved. it's just a pity that the people who took out the loans are also losing substantially as well.
as it is, it looks like the banks are still making plenty of money:
Household debt peaked at over 160% of households’ disposable income in 2008, nearly three times the level of December 1990, according to central bank figures. Debt currently stands at 152% of income, based on the latest quarterly figures.
which means that an awful lot of people are paying an awful lot of interest.
Monday, 23 November 2009
at the nesian festival
i've just put up a post at the hand mirror about the tension between social connectedness and political activism for social justice.
on saturday i was at the nesian festival, putting in some time on the labour party stall. it was a great day, with celebration of the various pasifika cultures and some great food. thank you to the fijians who put on a yummy halal lamb curry!
at the stall, we got quite a bit of interest. people are pretty annoyed with the proposed changes to ACC, as well as the ACE cuts. i ended up having a 20 minute debate with a young male free-market lover who thinks tax cuts solve a myriad of problems and privatisation is the way to go. despite so much evidence to the contrary.
silly me, to waste my time like that, but it was a conversation that i just couldn't seem to get out of. i know i didn't change his mind about anything (not that anything he said had an impact on me either), but i always enjoy revealing that i'm chartered accountants to these types, because for some stupid reason, they seem to think that lefties don't have a strong grasp of economics. hmm. i'll have to send them along to a presentation by bryan gould, brian easton, peter conway or rod oram!
on saturday i was at the nesian festival, putting in some time on the labour party stall. it was a great day, with celebration of the various pasifika cultures and some great food. thank you to the fijians who put on a yummy halal lamb curry!
at the stall, we got quite a bit of interest. people are pretty annoyed with the proposed changes to ACC, as well as the ACE cuts. i ended up having a 20 minute debate with a young male free-market lover who thinks tax cuts solve a myriad of problems and privatisation is the way to go. despite so much evidence to the contrary.
silly me, to waste my time like that, but it was a conversation that i just couldn't seem to get out of. i know i didn't change his mind about anything (not that anything he said had an impact on me either), but i always enjoy revealing that i'm chartered accountants to these types, because for some stupid reason, they seem to think that lefties don't have a strong grasp of economics. hmm. i'll have to send them along to a presentation by bryan gould, brian easton, peter conway or rod oram!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
rocky horror
i've got a couple of posts up at the hand mirror, one about discrimination against young mothers by the community max scheme, and the other about seeking permission to propose.
i tried watching the film version of the rocky horror show tonight. i've never seen it, and it's one of these things that you feel you should have watched, just because so many people talk about it so often. and it has a particular link to hamilton, we even have a statue to prove it!
but i just couldn't be bothered sitting through the whole thing. i gave up after an hour, cos i was so bored. i can see how it might have been cutting edge when it first came out, but it's not so anymore. so i guess i'll just remain ignorant of what all the fuss is about, and watch mamma mia instead!
i tried watching the film version of the rocky horror show tonight. i've never seen it, and it's one of these things that you feel you should have watched, just because so many people talk about it so often. and it has a particular link to hamilton, we even have a statue to prove it!
but i just couldn't be bothered sitting through the whole thing. i gave up after an hour, cos i was so bored. i can see how it might have been cutting edge when it first came out, but it's not so anymore. so i guess i'll just remain ignorant of what all the fuss is about, and watch mamma mia instead!
Thursday, 19 November 2009
tax investigations
this morning i went to a course for work - we accountants have to complete a certain number of continuing professional development. and today we got to hear (amongst other things) about the work IRD are doing around tax investigations and audit. you'll find some of the figures here, the key one being that tax investigations resulted in the IRD netting $1.269 billion.
the biggest culprits are "large enterprises", which is to be expected because they would be paying the largest amounts of tax and so developing schemes to avoid paying. the banks were particularly busy in this area, given the recent court cases that went against them. if anything, this proves that the IRD should be focussing most of it's efforts here, as this is where they will get the most returns.
i found it interesting (but i guess that's just me) to hear about the way the IRD has changed the way they select cases to be investigated. it used to be a pretty random approach, but now they use all sorts of sophisticated statistical modelling based on particular risk factors. which means they've been able to be more efficient in their work, and that is a good thing.
however, i can tell you that being audited by the IRD is not a nice experience. luckily, any audits i've been involved with have gone pretty smoothly. it's all about having good paperwork to back up your position and seeking proper advice when it comes to extra tricky positions. but even then, having someone combing through all your work can be stressful, especially when any errors could lead to significant penalties and interest for your client.
what surprises me though, is that only 10% ($127 million) of the take is from cases of tax evasion and fraud. i would have though this would be a higher percentage, but there you go. either the fraudsters are too clever to be caught or there aren't quite so many of them as there are people who are just making mistakes or getting it wrong.
amongst the interesting stuff i've been reading recently, i found this paper giving a maori woman's perpective on the piano. what surprised me the most is that i just didn't notice the negative portrayal of maori in the film when i watched it, being distracted by the main story i guess.
the biggest culprits are "large enterprises", which is to be expected because they would be paying the largest amounts of tax and so developing schemes to avoid paying. the banks were particularly busy in this area, given the recent court cases that went against them. if anything, this proves that the IRD should be focussing most of it's efforts here, as this is where they will get the most returns.
i found it interesting (but i guess that's just me) to hear about the way the IRD has changed the way they select cases to be investigated. it used to be a pretty random approach, but now they use all sorts of sophisticated statistical modelling based on particular risk factors. which means they've been able to be more efficient in their work, and that is a good thing.
however, i can tell you that being audited by the IRD is not a nice experience. luckily, any audits i've been involved with have gone pretty smoothly. it's all about having good paperwork to back up your position and seeking proper advice when it comes to extra tricky positions. but even then, having someone combing through all your work can be stressful, especially when any errors could lead to significant penalties and interest for your client.
what surprises me though, is that only 10% ($127 million) of the take is from cases of tax evasion and fraud. i would have though this would be a higher percentage, but there you go. either the fraudsters are too clever to be caught or there aren't quite so many of them as there are people who are just making mistakes or getting it wrong.
amongst the interesting stuff i've been reading recently, i found this paper giving a maori woman's perpective on the piano. what surprised me the most is that i just didn't notice the negative portrayal of maori in the film when i watched it, being distracted by the main story i guess.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
the long walk
i haven't been sleeping too well lately, so haven't had much energy to be posting. also not helped by the fact that i decided to do the 6 km walk in the round the bridges event on sunday.
don't ask me what possessed me to enter this event, other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. for the first time ever, we had a muslim women's team & i wanted to be part of that. there were 13 of us "scarfies", and the funniest bit was just before the race started. we were all standing in place (towards the back, of course), and the announcer said "very soon, the moment that you've all been training so hard for". we all collapsed with laughter, as very little training had been done by any of us!
and yes, i really felt it. i'd been trying to get in some walking during the week. i'd done 3.8km around the hamilton lake the previous sunday, and a couple of half hour sessions on the treadmill. it's just so hard to find the time!
i was ok for the first 3 kms, particularly when we were walking right next to the river. i really love the fact that our river doesn't have any development close to the banks. it retains all it's natural beauty, and in many places, you hardly know you're in the city.
the 5th km was the hardest, which i felt was a drag (reminded of the stephen king novellette, "the long walk". well, ok, no-one was actually shooting at me, but i definitely identified with the descriptions of pain!). the 6th i didn't mind so much because i knew it was almost over, and even managed to put on a burst of energy for the last 250m. who would have thought! but the really painful bit was walking from garden place (where the race ended) to my car. my feet were so incredibly sore, it took me quite a while to shuffle along to the carpark.
still, i'm glad i did it. i enjoyed the company, and the feeling of being part of such a big event. and i wasn't too sore on monday, just the end of my toes really. if you're really interested, you can see photos and videos of myself and my daughter here.
and i have a more serious post on the recent law commission report up at the hand mirror.
don't ask me what possessed me to enter this event, other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. for the first time ever, we had a muslim women's team & i wanted to be part of that. there were 13 of us "scarfies", and the funniest bit was just before the race started. we were all standing in place (towards the back, of course), and the announcer said "very soon, the moment that you've all been training so hard for". we all collapsed with laughter, as very little training had been done by any of us!
and yes, i really felt it. i'd been trying to get in some walking during the week. i'd done 3.8km around the hamilton lake the previous sunday, and a couple of half hour sessions on the treadmill. it's just so hard to find the time!
i was ok for the first 3 kms, particularly when we were walking right next to the river. i really love the fact that our river doesn't have any development close to the banks. it retains all it's natural beauty, and in many places, you hardly know you're in the city.
the 5th km was the hardest, which i felt was a drag (reminded of the stephen king novellette, "the long walk". well, ok, no-one was actually shooting at me, but i definitely identified with the descriptions of pain!). the 6th i didn't mind so much because i knew it was almost over, and even managed to put on a burst of energy for the last 250m. who would have thought! but the really painful bit was walking from garden place (where the race ended) to my car. my feet were so incredibly sore, it took me quite a while to shuffle along to the carpark.
still, i'm glad i did it. i enjoyed the company, and the feeling of being part of such a big event. and i wasn't too sore on monday, just the end of my toes really. if you're really interested, you can see photos and videos of myself and my daughter here.
and i have a more serious post on the recent law commission report up at the hand mirror.
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