Let’s (not) talk about tax.

Let’s talk about the disaster that is our criminal justice system.

I have a number of tax things in my head atm. Past tax reviews, US tax proposals and GST on online shopping. Not to mention the slow burning IRD restructure where the top people in Investigations are either being offered their jobs back at up to $20K pay cuts (Senior Investigators) or have to apply for their jobs with up to $20k pay cuts (Principal Advisors).

Two highlights being:

• Less capable staff getting their performance ratings increased because their untouched salaries are now a higher percentage of the lower new top salary;
• The psychometric testing assessing one of the department’s best of best technical people as having ‘difficulties with abstract thinking’.

But that will take a while for the effects to unfold on the tax base.

What is very now is our bursting prison population. As a consequence of political and community over reaction to sentinel events the Ministry of Justice sees a possibility of the prison muster hitting 12,000 in the next three years. Awesome. What tax IRD still collects can go directly to Vote Corrections. Suppose that is efficient.

So with all this in mind minus the tax stuff, me and my friends at JustSpeak have produced a Briefing for Incoming Ministers. Worth a read.

Andrea