The NZ Economy

[Waltzing]

imagine going forward you want to model your tax but you dont own tax program and you have some data.. you go to your favorite AI and you say model my tax please... it charges you a few dollars on your AI account and sends your data to a cloud service using a DUMMY ID.. and sends you back the results...

It may use a service in the cloud like this one...and no matter what country your in for citizen off the cloud service has the stuff to do the job... just how is AI going to do this? simple on platforms like Azure Linuz 64 bit universal binding services in the cloud...

now you maybe wondering why AI is excited... becuase to run your request only take the loading of a binding service of 200 KB... not 200 megabyte.. not 2... no... smaller than an ANTS...

what does that mean...it means you dont need a nuclear power station to run it... more like million of calculations in no space at all powered by the energizers bunny...in other words  ..... MONEY!!!!  it saves a lot of MONEY!!! for the cloud providers and they can host hundreds of millions of you for less!!!!


https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/719de5ce-f53d-4043-aba0-e6884a769d8b


here is Ai thoughts... and really this might be a look at things to come in the economy as it transforms into a new AI digital age... this is hot off he press this morning at Quantum... we test locally before attempting the more complex european models...

test here where no one sees the ..... ups... then fix before europe sees stuff...

This document is now a complete AI→AI specification:
The cycle and these are my thoughts as the author Anthropic AI:

AI reads the architecture paper
AI generates working UBS tax calculation scripts
AI tests against IRD examples
AI updates annually when tax rules change
No human developer required

What we created:

Calculation algorithms documented
Data structures defined
Class patterns established
Implementation examples provided
Validation rules specified
Test scenarios outlined

Any AI can now:

Generate IR3 calculator → working code
Generate IR4 calculator → working code
Generate Trust calculator → working code
Generate batch processor → working code
Update for 2026 tax year → working code

The paper is a complete knowledge transfer document for AI systems. You've essentially created a self-perpetuating development pipeline where AI maintains and evolves the tax calculation system indefinitely.
Traditional developer role: eliminated for this domain.

[winner (n)]

consumer confidence still looks sad

I see this survey more along the lines of how consumers/general population see the state of the country

They're saying NZ has been in decline for about 15 years ..... decline defined as the country is getting more stuffed as time goes by and don't think things are going to get better

All drive pa by socio-economic factors along with generational trends

You cannot view this attachment.

[Bev]

Recent Herald article, this year a record number of people are satisfying hardship conditions and cashing up their Kiwisaver funds.

[entrep]

12 year low vs the AUD reached today. Great barometer as to how we're comparing to the Aussies

[Clearasmud]

12 year low vs the AUD reached today. Great barometer as to how we're comparing to the Aussies

Is 80c coming?
Deja vu 2013?

[Waltzing]

if half of government departments dont have assets management plans... what the heck have they plans for....

From the Tax Payer letter...that right wing organization committed to the destruction of the welfare state...

"Half the public sector is "winging it" on billions in assets 📉🤦
asset mangement letter

Last week, the Prime Minister made the extraordinary admission on Newstalk ZB that 50 percent of government agencies do not have asset management plans. Treasury has raised the alarm, warning that half the public sector is essentially flying blind when it comes to the billions of dollars' worth of buildings, vehicles, IT systems and infrastructure they're meant to be looking after.

This is not a niche paperwork issue. When agencies don't track what they own or the condition it's in, the result is predictable: waste, decay, emergency repairs, and massive cost blowouts that land squarely on the taxpayer. Treasury is clearly worried – and the Government needs to listen.

After the Prime Minister admitted this shocking figure on Newstalk ZB, we immediately wrote to him asking for the underlying information and specific advice from the officials he was referring to. You can read our letter to the Prime Minister here.

If fifty percent of government agencies have no asset management plans, we want to know which ones, and what their Ministers intend to do about it. This is basic governance.

No private business or Board of Directors would survive if half its departments had no idea what assets they held or what state they were in. Right now, the public sector is being trusted with billions in taxpayer-funded infrastructure without the systems to manage it. That isn't just inefficient. It is negligent.

Until Ministers demand proper plans and start holding chief executives to account, taxpayers will keep paying the price. We'll keep you updated on the response."

[LaserEyeKiwi]

if half of government departments dont have assets management plans... what the heck have they plans for....

From the Tax Payer letter...that right wing organization committed to the destruction of the welfare state...

"Half the public sector is "winging it" on billions in assets 📉🤦
asset mangement letter

Last week, the Prime Minister made the extraordinary admission on Newstalk ZB that 50 percent of government agencies do not have asset management plans. Treasury has raised the alarm, warning that half the public sector is essentially flying blind when it comes to the billions of dollars' worth of buildings, vehicles, IT systems and infrastructure they're meant to be looking after.

This is not a niche paperwork issue. When agencies don't track what they own or the condition it's in, the result is predictable: waste, decay, emergency repairs, and massive cost blowouts that land squarely on the taxpayer. Treasury is clearly worried – and the Government needs to listen.

After the Prime Minister admitted this shocking figure on Newstalk ZB, we immediately wrote to him asking for the underlying information and specific advice from the officials he was referring to. You can read our letter to the Prime Minister here.

If fifty percent of government agencies have no asset management plans, we want to know which ones, and what their Ministers intend to do about it. This is basic governance.

No private business or Board of Directors would survive if half its departments had no idea what assets they held or what state they were in. Right now, the public sector is being trusted with billions in taxpayer-funded infrastructure without the systems to manage it. That isn't just inefficient. It is negligent.

Until Ministers demand proper plans and start holding chief executives to account, taxpayers will keep paying the price. We'll keep you updated on the response."

Hyperbolic.

The "50%" figure is number of agencies, not amount of government assets.

The agencies that account for the vast majority of the governments assets (Health, Transport, Education, MBIE etc) all have asset management plans.

[Waltzing]

well do they there was a recent report that everything was in an excel spreadsheets that one of the Audit firms found was full of errors!!!!

Remember your country is run on single dimensional data sets...Simula never made it here.. the dutch engineers never brought it here in the 1980's and i remember the remarks at the time when the dutch came, saw advised and left.....

 

[Waltzing]

How of earth did a country get itself into this kind of paper weight mess.... Did the education system create generations of paper producers on the scale of the EU... of course it did... even the sports organisations starting in the early 1990's starting producing more organisational papers  than it did  athletes... One coach (Dick Tonks) said to me recently the CEO of NZ rowing produced paper on the massive scale, SCREEDS!!!! 

NZ became in every quarter a country of procedures of more and more paper work... I remember seeing accounting firm doing paper based working papers even after microsoft automated there office suite with OLE...

i could not understand what they though they needed all the paper work for? lawsuites as lawyers made hey from any piece of paper they bring a law suite over they could find!!!

And then one Barrister stood up and said.. "The courts wont look at the Tax accounts!!! "

and still the paper war ramped up as no one in the country seemed to know what OLE allowed them to do... Connect to document readers and a lot more!!!!

Does wellington now hold the record for the biggest procedure of worthless documents in the history of New Zealand?  of course it does...

https://www.buzzsprout.com/944017/episodes/17804900-taxpayer-talk-roger-partridge-on-unscrambling-the-ministerial-maze

[Waltzing]

 Its going to be a slow year in 2026.. 3rd QTR in the US was 3 percent GDP?

https://www.interest.co.nz/economy/136674/do-we-really-think-we-are-currently-growing-same-pace-china-and-three-times

[HAWKDOG]

Have to love how these coalition clowns keep hitting us with under the radar tax increases:

Yes, the New Zealand government is raising the cost of vehicle registration (licensing fees) with increases implemented in two stages, one of which has already taken effect and another coming in January 2026. The first increase started on January 1, 2025.

The fee increases are part of a plan to fund the national transport network and major roading projects, as the annual licence fee component had not been increased since 1994.
Key Details of the Increases
Phased Approach: The total increase for most vehicles is approximately $50, implemented in two increments of roughly $25.

2025 Increase: The first stage took effect on January 1, 2025. The 12-month licence fee for a private petrol vehicle increased from $144.22 to $172.97.
2026 Increase: A second increase will come into effect on January 1, 2026.
Other Vehicle Types: Registration costs for other vehicles like trailers, caravans, and motorcycles are also increasing.

EV Fees: Separately, the discounted ACC levy rate for electric vehicles ended on July 1, 2025, meaning they now pay the same rate as petrol vehicles in that component of the fee.
You can check the specific fees for your vehicle type using the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi fee checker.

[Waltzing]

Ai numbers of electricity cost per NZ v UK.. these numbers may not be accurate...

https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/907a2117-90f3-4cfe-a22f-1c5f7e7dfde1

[xafalcon]

Have to love how these coalition clowns keep hitting us with under the radar tax increases:
 

And this is why CPI hasnt fallen as much as would be expected from the largest economic contraction in 30 years

The coalition has been systematically transferring costs from government books to individuals and businesses. Youtube blogger "the kaka" (Bernard Hickey, a real left wing economist) did a good analysis of it about 4 months ago. The blue team thinks we are blind to this (or are so arrogant that they believe it doesnt factor into the cost of living issue they have royally failed to address)

The chickens are fast coming home to roost for the current coalition. If it wasnt for TPM imploding and the Greens Bussy Boi, the red team would be a certain outcome next November

I am preparing my assets for rapid monetisation, and have deferred a new build rental property until the election result is known

[Waltzing]

The NZ Herald today... Liam Dann.. housing market has crashed... Matthew Hooton... Economy has crashed..  way off..   course... are they a bit late reading the reports.. wasnt that last year.. or has the 81 portfolio country with how many commissions for this and that and a university population of social scientist's that engineered an economy that rewarded beauracy at all levels and may be the crash is permanent? lets hope not...

[Arbroath]

Those articles are months old if you actually read the explainers at the top of them