Voting for your wallet
The most extraordinary battle over property rights is taking place in the current election campaign.
In the blue corner are the landlords and homeowners.
They’ve benefited for years from light-handed regulation, policies contributing to a failure to build enough homes in our big cities, and a super-friendly tax system.
These policies have helped house prices and rents reach very high levels.
In the red corner are the renters.
These have seen their rents rise, sometimes by double-digits in a single year. They’ve seen their chances of owning homes spiral out of reach.
They have a higher chance than homeowners of living in damp, unhealthy and cold houses.
They also live with the threat that their landlord can evict them with just 90 days’ notice, for no reason at all.
In previous elections, no
GOLDEN RULES
Be informed Recognise the opportunity Vote your interests politicians were really trying to woo the renters. But now they have champions. Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, NZ First, and Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities Party (TOP) all advocate policies designed to improve their lot.
These include policies to tax homeowners (TOP) and speculators (Labour, Greens), longer tenancies (Greens, TOP), and warrants of fitness for rentals (Labour, Maori, Greens).
The Maori Party would even explore caps on rent rises, and laws to ensure tenants are not left out of pocket if their landlord forces them to move.
These politicians are pledging to increase renters’ rights, and decrease landlords’.
I make a point of not thrusting my political opinions down readers’ throats.
I’m going to leave you to the ‘‘democracy thing’’ and decide for yourself whose housing policy is best. They are all online.
But the red corner/blue corner housing fight does prove one thing: Voting matters for your wealth.
Who has been enriched by the housing policies in cities like Auckland and Wellington?
Older people, homeowners and people on higher incomes.
Who are the people most likely to vote?
Older people, homeowners and people on higher incomes.
Who has been relatively impoverished by high house prices and rents?
‘‘Voting matters for your wealth.’’
Younger people, lower-income people, unemployed people.
Who are the people least likely to vote?
Younger people, lower-income people, unemployed people.
Some people claim to believe their vote has no value. This is simply not true. Just ask the rich homeowners.
According to the UK’s Economist magazine, New Zealand is one of only 19 true democracies.
The world has its huddled masses. Choosing not to vote is deciding to huddle down and join them.
Depressingly, the reasons people actually give for not voting are all pitiful.
After the 2011 general election, the biggest reasons were: ‘‘didn’t get around to it, forgot or were not interested’’, ‘‘did not register’’, were ‘‘overseas or away on election day’’, and ‘‘did not think their vote would make a difference’’.
Working hard, working smart, saving, investing: All these things are important if you wish to prosper. My firm conclusion is that so is voting.