Reserve Bank doesn't understand tax system - English

  • 09/07/2016
Reserve Bank doesn't understand tax system - English

Finance Minister Bill English has taken a swipe at the Reserve Bank, saying it doesn't understand the policy making process and "does not have a detailed understanding of how the tax system or the migration system works."

Mr English made the comments on The Nation after saying it could do more in terms of the housing market, changing tax benefits on rentals and reducing immigration.

"The Reserve Bank's job is to focus on monetary policy and macro-prudential tools. We're always looking at the tax system and immigration, and there's been a number of changes in those areas. The Reserve Bank may not be familiar with those," Mr English says.

He states the Government has made recent tax system changes that affect housing - but he hasn't decided to get rid of negative gearing and other issues.

"There's ongoing discussion about the migration settings," Mr English says, adding that "the core issue here is supply - that you can't actually control the demand in anything other than the very short term, as the Reserve Bank's finding out. The core issue is getting more houses."

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