Tax take 1
Associate Minister of Finance and Revenue David Cunliffe says submissions to the proposed tax changes on offshore investments have been “numerous” and have “expressed significant opposition to the proposed changes.”
“They also contain too little acknowledgement of what most who are familiar with this industry publicly or privately admit: that the current rules are not working.”
He told a tax conference in Rotorua that “before the election the government made it clear that it was open to reasonable solutions. The option that submissions seem to favour is taxation limited to dividends. With no capital gains tax and low dividend yields, the result would provide too much incentive to invest offshore. That does not seem to be reasonable. “
He says a priority for the next government will be continuing the dialogue that has been started to determine “whether there is a reasonable and workable solution to what is a difficult and important issue.”
Tax take 2
Cunliffe also said that advancing KiwiSaver was a key tax issue. KiwiSaver is due to come into effect on April 1, 2007. “This may seem a long way away, but the savings industry requires time to implement any changes, making legislation in 2006 a necessity.”
St Laurence to manage listed trust
St Laurence is to take over managing National Property Trust. St Laurence will take over running the National Property Trust after buying the trust's manager for an undisclosed sum.
NPT executive chairman Paul Dallimore said there had been several suitors, but St Laurence's offer most closely represented the interests of investors.
"St Laurence is currently the largest unit holder in the trust and its aims and objectives for the trust are consistent with that of the existing management," he said.
Southern Cross rating
Southern Cross has had its A+ credit rating reconfirmed by Standard & Poor’s, a result which its chairman, John Matthews, says underlines the financial stability of the not-for-profit healthcare organisation.
While the New Zealand health insurance market is not regulated, Southern Cross has voluntarily sought a rating since 1994 to provide its members and the public with an independent assessment of its financial position.
NZ sharemarket keeps growing
The market capitalisation of the sharemarket's benchmark NZSX-50 index grew $3.4 billion in the year to September, according to statistics from New Zealand Exchange (NZX).
The NZSX-50 index's market capitalisation grew to a record $49.7 billion in September, up from $19.2 billion when it was launched in March 2003.
NZX said the growth was due to strong individual company performances, as well as the recent inclusion of Vector and Westpac Banking Corp in the index. NZX said the growth in market capitalisation has left the index more balanced.
Telecom now has a weighting of 23.7%, down from a peak of 30.3% in May 2003. Activity on the broader sharemarket was up in September compared to the previous year. Average daily trades hit 2458 in September, up 2% on the year-earlier.
Liontamer units rocket
Liontamer says the booster units in its GLOBAL Series 1 fund are proving to be enormously popular with advisers and investors. With the 'booster' feature paying 1.5 times the rise in the sharemarkets.
Liontamer says that it appears people are looking for aggressive growth in the equities markets.
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