Restaurants have a nervous eye on an upcoming deadline when steeper tariffs kick in
Drinks are a profit driver for United States restaurants, but higher import costs have eaten into margins and fed into consumer prices in the three months since President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs.
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Otago Daily Times
11 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
More local input needed on airport's future: lobby group
The Queenstown Lakes District Council is working on a master plan for Wānaka Airport. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A lobby group is worried local input on the future of Wanaka Airport will be non-existent. Last week about 30-40 locals attended an independently run consultation session. The consultation is being led by French engineering firm Egis on behalf of the Queenstown Lakes District Council. Wānaka Stakeholders Group has launched its own proposal for the airport, advocating for local governance. Chairwoman Meg Taylor stressed low numbers and feedback meant the council would go ahead and do what it wanted. She said the community was not informed the sessions were taking place. "It was very casual and not catching a lot of people. "I would like to see better governance, in the long term, and until that happens we have these ad-hoc engagements with the community and they are not particularly satisfactory." Wānaka Airport is owned by the council and operated by Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) under a management services agreement. Last year the council signalled its intent to develop a long-term plan for the airport. The stakeholder group is pushing for a plan that reflects the interests of the entire Upper Clutha region, emphasising community involvement in governance, management, accountability, and investment decisions. Ms Taylor said it was important for Wanaka locals to have a role in the decision-making process. "What we want is Wānaka people to make that decision and that is why it comes down to governance and who runs it. "There is going to be ongoing decisions about growth, this town is growing," she said. "A more localised board, making the airport accountable for local people and ensuring there is transparency — nobody has seen financials for the past five years." The group is opposed to jet aircraft flying in and out of Wānaka. Meanwhile Queenstown Airport's manager of sustainability and corporate affairs Sarah Irvine said jetliner travel was not on the governing body's radar. "Our strategy is 100% not that." Ms Irvine said while the Queenstown Airport was not involved with community consultations, the airport understood the importance of feedback from the community due to mistakes made in the past. The stakeholder group said the governance format was wrong and the airport should be solely run by locals, rather than tied in with the larger international airport over the hill. Ms Irvine said the experience of those in Queenstown could help. "The benefit is you have the fourth busiest airport in the country lending expertise. "We have an extensive team and there is benefit in seasoned operators lending help to the Wanaka Airport." In a statement, Egis said: "Both sessions were well-attended, with an engaged local community participating and contributing actively. "The interactive sessions allowed the community to have their say on the issues that mattered most to them, such as feedback on travel, community lifestyle values, and their vision and preferred outcomes for the regional airport." Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board chairman Simon Telfer said everyone should get involved in the feedback. "There have been many ideas already, including supporting general aviation, increasing scheduled flights, allowing broader commercial activity and better preparing for natural disaster resilience." When the consultation rounds are finished a review will be written to explore the airport's long-term role, its economic impact and its integration into New Zealand's broader aeronautical network. Following the first round of engagement, Egis will develop several possible scenarios for the airport. There will then be a second round of engagement in early August.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
The winners and losers of Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
By Matt Egan and Tami Luhby , CNN President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on 26 March. Photo: Francis Chung/Politico/Getty Images via CNN Newsource Analysis - President Donald Trump has promised that the "big, beautiful bill" passed by Congress will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation in American history. Of course, the ultimate beauty of this sweeping legislation is very much in the eye of the beholder. The bill could end up boosting some workers and industries, while others may be left worse off. Corporate America Big business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable, applauded the Senate's passage of the bill on Tuesday. Corporations are betting they will benefit from the legislation making permanent the tax breaks in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The package would restore a tax break from the 2017 tax package that allowed businesses to fully write off the cost of equipment in the first year it was purchased. The incentive has been phasing out since 2023. Also, the legislation would once again allow businesses to write off the cost of research and development in the year it was incurred. The TCJA required that companies deduct those expenses over five years, starting in 2022. Manufacturers Manufacturers are especially happy that the bill would make significant changes to how the US tax code treats the construction of new manufacturing facilities. Businesses will be allowed to fully and immediately deduct the cost of building new manufacturing facilities. This temporary provision is retroactive to 19 January, 2025 and continues for construction that begins before 1 January, 2029. And in a bid to incentivise more chipmaking in America, the legislation would enhance tax credits for semiconductor firms building manufacturing facilities in the United States. Small businesses and partnerships The National Federation of Independent Business, the leading small business lobbying group, praised the legislation for making permanent a special deduction for the owners of certain pass-through entities who pay businesses taxes on their individual tax returns. That deduction, which applies to small businesses and partnerships formed by lawyers, doctors and investors, would get increased in the House version of the bill from 20 percent to 23 percent. The Senate bill kept it at 20 percent. High-income Americans The net income for the top 20 percent of earners would increase by nearly US$13,000 per year, after taxes and transfers, according to an analysis of a near-final version of the Senate bill by Penn Wharton Budget Model. That amounts to a 3 percent average increase in income for those households. For the top 0.1 percent of earners, the average annual income gain would amount to more than US$290,000, according to Penn Wharton. Americans living in high-tax states should also benefit because the bill temporarily increases limits on deductions for state and local taxes for householders making up to US$500,000 annually to US$40,000 per year for five years. However, millionaires who lose their jobs will not be able to collect unemployment benefits, according to a recent provision added to the Senate bill. Workers who receive tips and overtime Certain workers will receive an extra tax break through 2028. Employees who work in jobs that traditionally receive tips could deduct up to US$25,000 in tip income from their federal income taxes, while workers who receive overtime could deduct up to US$12,500 of that extra pay. However, highly compensated individuals, who make more than US$160,000 in 2025, would not qualify. Low-income Americans Many people at the lowest end of the income ladder would be worse off because the package would enact historic cuts to the nation's safety net program, particularly Medicaid and food stamps. Among the many changes to these programs would be the addition of federally mandated work requirements to Medicaid for the first time in its 60-year history and the expansion of the work mandate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps. Parents of children ages 14 and up are among those who would have to work, volunteer, take classes or participate in job training to keep their benefits. Millions of low-income Americans are expected to lose their benefits because of the work requirements and the bill's other measures affecting Medicaid and food stamps. Notably, few of those dropped from Medicaid coverage would have access to job-based health insurance, according to a Congressional Budget Office report about the House version of the package. Those in the lowest-income group, earning less than US$18,000 a year, would see a US$165 reduction in their after-tax, after-transfer income, once the safety net cuts are taken into account, according to Penn Wharton. That's a 1.1 percent decrease. The next level, who earn between US$18,000 and US$53,000, would get a US$30 bump in income, or 0.1 percent. Middle-income households would see their income rise by US$1.430, or 1.8 percent. They earn between US$53,000 and US$96,000. The health provisions won't only hit low-income Americans. The Senate is also tightening verification requirements for the Affordable Care Act's federal premium subsidies, which could also leave some middle-income Americans uninsured. All told, the bill could result in more than 10 million more people being uninsured in 2034, according to a CNN analysis of the bill and CBO forecasts. Hospitals Hospitals are not happy with the health care provisions of the bill, which would reduce the support they receive from states to care for Medicaid enrollees and leave them with more uncompensated care costs for treating uninsured patients. "The real-life consequences of these nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts - the largest ever proposed by Congress - will result in irreparable harm to our health care system, reducing access to care for all Americans and severely undermining the ability of hospitals and health systems to care for our most vulnerable patients," said Rick Pollack, chief executive of the American Hospital Association. The association said it is "deeply disappointed" with the bill, even though it contains a US$50 billion fund to help rural hospitals contend with the Medicaid cuts, which hospitals say is not nearly enough to make up for the shortfall. Clean energy and EVs The Senate removed a last-minute excise tax on wind and solar that experts warned would have been a "killer" for the clean energy industry. However, the Senate bill still strips tax incentives for wind, solar and other renewable energy projects by 2027 and gives developers stringent requirements to claim them. The American Clean Power Association slammed the legislation as a "step backward for American energy policy" that will eliminate jobs and raise electric bills. Electric vehicle makers could also be left worse off because the GOP bill ends EV tax credits of up to US$7500 at the end of September. Previously those tax credits were scheduled to last through 2032, providing a powerful incentive for car buyers. Deficit hawks The Senate version of the package would increase the deficit by about US$3.4 trillion over the next decade, according to CBO. Adding trillions to the debt risks lifting already elevated interest rates. That in turn will make it more expensive for Americans to finance the purchase of a car or a home and for businesses to borrow money to grow. Not only that, but higher rates would force the federal government to devote even greater resources to finance its own mountain of debt. The CBO expects US federal government interest costs to surpass US$1 trillion per year. US spending on interest has already more than tripled since 2017, surpassing what the federal government's entire defense budget. - CNN
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
House passes tax and immigration bill, sending it to Trump's desk
Republicans on Thursday notched the first major legislative victory of President Donald Trump's second term, a mammoth tax and immigration agenda the GOP hopes will reshape the US economy and unwind many of the Biden administration's accomplishments. The House, in a 218 to 214 vote, passed Trump's so-called 'One Big
