Geof Nightingale: On officials being told to take a look at the financial impact of our ageing population

Officials are being told to take a clear look at the financial impact of our ageing population.

Outgoing Treasury boss Dr Caralee McLiesh [Cara lee Mick Leesh] has made it clear there's a need for a Capital Gains Tax and superannuation changes, as her five-year term comes to an end.

She says with an ageing population, an increasing share of government transfers are going to the wealthy.

Independent tax advisor Geof Nightingale told Ryan Bridge more of the population will be taking the national super and needing more healthcare.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
To Carolyn McLeish. She probably don't know her name, but
she is the Treasury boss. She's the outgoing Treasury boss
going back home to Australia after a five year term here,
and she says we have a structural deficit in New
Zealand and things are so bad. She reckons we need
a capital gains tax, comprehensive capital gains tax to try
and fix it into the future, and we need to

(00:21):
change our pension age. Jeff nightingales with us this morning,
Independent tax advisor Jeff good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Does she have a point here?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yes, yes she does. Unfortunately, it's very consistent with what
Treasury has been saying for well a better part of
five or six years now. They publish every four years
a long term fiscal position, and that's consistently showing The
last one they published was twenty twenty one, and that's
consistently showing that we're spending more than we're collecting and

(00:51):
that results in unsustainable levels of debt into the future.
So she's unfortunately, she's right.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
She's also linking it to COVID quite pacifically as well,
isn't she. When she talks about the structural deficits. So
we're currently at forty three percent of GDP, well up
from the sub twenties before COVID.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
That's right. So the COVID expenditure has bumped us, bumped
our debt levels up from sort of twenty forty to
sustainable debt. But it's the outward looking trackly worries and
particular and healthcare when we're all aging, our population is aging,
more of us will draw down on national super it's

(01:33):
a universal benefit, and the aging population is going to
need more healthcare. So the projections on those two crown
expenditures are pretty frightening over the next sort of thirty years.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Is this not somebody's text And why can't we just
keep cutting? Is this not something we can just cut
our way out of.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, we could. Look, when you're dealing with public finances,
there's only three believers. There's more tax there's cutting expenditure,
or there's debt. The debt is pretty unsustainable. We've been
drawing on that. This current government's doing a little bit
of expenditure cutting, but it's not really addressing that structural deficit.
So that really leaves us in the position of more

(02:11):
taxes and none of us like.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
That, certainly not, Jeff, Thank you for that. Independent tax
advisor Jeff Nightingale.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
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Speaker 1 (02:24):
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