Open AccessFixing the housing crisis
Author(s) -
Nick Wilson
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
policy quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-1101
pISSN - 2324-1098
DOI - 10.26686/pq.v16i2.6477
Subject(s) - capital (architecture) , capital income , economics , focus (optics) , covid-19 , public economics , business , economic policy , labour economics , international taxation , tax reform , geography , medicine , physics , disease , archaeology , pathology , optics , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This article looks at the intergenerational issues associated with housing in New Zealand. Election year is again upon us (Covid-19 permitting) and, with the problems surrounding KiwiBuild, housing affordability is under the spotlight. It is no secret that New Zealand has a housing affordability problem and many causes are feeding this.
Two of these causes – capital taxation inconsistencies and infrastructure issues – will be the focus of this article. Inconsistencies in the taxation of capital income are a major source of the problem, causing intergenerational transfers from younger to older generations. A land tax is a possible solution. Complementary policies targeted at addressing infrastructure bottlenecks also have an important role to play.