please tell me your dreams aren't that small

there's one policy position that makes me unreasonably angry:

"the cost of living is too high; we should take the GST off fruit and vegetables."

I've got problems with this idea.

if we did, the best-case scenario is if you spend $100 on fruit and vegetables every week you'll save $13. but you aren't spending $100 on fruit and vegetables every week.

the realistic-case scenario is prices drop ~13% when the change is rolled out, then prices creep back up to "what the market will bear" and you've saved nothing.

plus not to sound like a policy nerd (derogatory), but GST's strength is its simplicity. is it a good or a service? then you pay Goods and Services Tax on it.

the obvious first problem with carving out an exemption for "fruit and vegetables" is all the litigation that will happen over what qualifies as "fruit and vegetables". does tomato paste count? those awful "fruit leather" bars?

the second problem is now that there's one exemption, everyone will want exemptions for their thing. medicine is crucial for living, so GST should come off that, right? that was the argument made in a story about pharmaceutical companies charging exorbitant prices for cancer drugs, where the focus was–for some reason–the GST charged on top.

thirdly there's the issue of increasing compliance costs. where you were charging 15% on everything, you've now got to keep track of what you've sold that does or does not qualify for GST.

but that's not my main gripe. GST is a regressive tax–it should be done away with entirely.

my main issue is: jesus christ, is this all you can think to ask for?

I'm critical of the Labour party for watering down their positions, but the Green party are guilty of this as well (their recent benefit policy looks like the policy that should have come out of a compromise), and Te Pāti Māori have floated this same weaksauce tax policy as well. it's bad enough when they do it–why are we as citizens doing the same thing?

a handful of people have more money than God while the rest of us struggle to get by. people are paying the bulk of their income every week for housing that makes them sick. grocery prices go up every week because the duopoly knows they can get away with it.

we should be demanding Universal Basic Income, we should be demanding the power companies back in State ownership, we should be demanding accountability for the impoverishment of our people and the destruction of our environment. instead, we're asking for $5/week off groceries.

please tell me your dreams aren't that small.