A statue for Ronald

A capital joke

Capital gains tax is a joke. If I sell a house now for $300,000 + GST, I just sell it for $300,000 + GST + capital gains. It puts the asking price up and the buyer pays the tax. If you put it on rent, the rent goes up and the tenant pays the tax.

If a company or a person sells a product with a tax on, they just add it to the price and the buyer always pays the tax.

I am surprised that the Labour Party has been around for over 100 years and hasn’t worked that out. Terry Bain Eltham I believe the STDC should start a public fundraiser and erect a statue celebrating Ronald Hugh Morrieson (Hawera’s most famous writer).

Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall is leading the charge to raise $90,000 for a statue of James K. Baxter (NZ’s most famous poet). Morrieson may not be Baxter’s intellectual equal, but he’s no less famous. There are at least three films based on his novels, including ‘‘Came a Hot Friday’’ (starring the late Billy T. James) and most recently ‘‘Predicament’’ (2010).

The STDC keeps Morrieson’s legacy alive by sponsoring the annual writing awards. Morrieson’s Cafe and Bar has murals depicting his novels and part of the staircase from his home. However, there’s no guarantee these will remain given the vagaries of business.

Because KFC is built on the spot of the Morrieson family home —and passing motorists stop for takeaways, it makes perfect sense having a statue there. South Taranaki should at least emulate Whanganui and immortalise their literary larrikin. Bryan Vickery New Plymouth

We can do better

Like many others no doubt, I was disappointed at the crowd reaction at the Dunedin test to the ‘‘respect the kicker’’ message.

Every time Bernard Foley prepared to kick for goal, there was certainly no respect shown for him. I was quite unimpressed.

Surely we can do much better in New Plymouth this Saturday night.

There seemed to be respect for Baden Kerr for Counties on Saturday night but whether that was weather related I don’t know. Terry Stowers New Plymouth

Universal income needed

Any political leader who thinks National Super can be reduced is in cloud-cuckoo land.

The future is with some form of Universal Basic Income; our society will not survive without it.

National Super is virtually a UBI for those over 65.

The age should be lowered not raised.

Again Labour is thinking of the future rather than the past! Frank Gaze New Plymouth

Turn back on Kim

To misquote ‘Crocodile’ Dundee, ‘‘That’s not a bomb, this is a bomb’’. The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has again tested a nuclear weapon, claimed to be a hydrogen bomb.

He may forget that the United States has about 5000 nuclear weapons, some of which are being decommissioned, but still enough to reduce North Korea to a fairly unpleasant place to live - although the dictator has really already achieved this. We have all met or been threatened by bullies at school, at work or in life generally and some characteristics are the same each time.

Generally there is much shouting and threatening, usually accompanied by a warning or a small scale act of violence with the implied threat of much worse to follow if they are not obeyed. The true test of courage is not to react in a more violent way but to treat them as the losers they are and to stand up to them without worsening the situation.

This is a time for the rest of the world, via the UN with all of its nations, to stay their hand and turn their back on him, both financially and through denying him resources. This will not be an easy path as many of the country’s citizens will be worse off, but it is time to break his hold on his country and hope for a better future for the citizens of North Korea. Dennis Fitzgerald Australia