Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Tax breaks?

Thousands of families to get tax break
Mr Benson-Pope visited a Wellington call centre handling Working For Families inquiries today where he met call centre worker Nigel Ritchie.

Mr Ritchie is married with two children, one aged three and the other nine months, and earns $37,500. From Saturday his Family Assistance under the Working For Families package would increase to $334 per fortnight, up more than $200 a fortnight.

When the Childcare and Accommodation Supplement components of the Working For Families package are added, Mr Ritchie's family will get around $270 per week -- making them $110 a week better off from Saturday.

If I understand this properly Nigel is getting $14,040 pa from Working for Families. His tax would be $8,336. He is not getting a tax break. He is getting a hand-out. To boot, he is produces nothing of value to add to the wealth of the country (nothing personal Nigel). Some will argue he has produced two children. But there is no guarantee they will stay in NZ - unless all the state benefits make it irresistable.

What a prospect. The multitudes seduced with hand-outs and a Labour government with an insurmountable number of voters....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

yep- and after reading the article on both NZHerald & Stuff, I had to go to check 'scoop' to see if it was actually an unaltered press-relase.

blog owner said...

Nor should you forget that having his two children leave NZ may not be a bad thing if staying means living off the state.

Oswald Bastable said...

Indeed!

Feel anything tightening around the neck?

it's called a collar...

Anonymous said...

To boot, he is produces nothing of value to add to the wealth of the country

That's harsh.

I'm sure we need paintings, blog ramblings and newspaper articles to raise the country's wealth.

His value may not be visible to you.

Harsh.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Anonymous, My comment about Nigel was an economic observation. Nigel's function is purely one of redistributing wealth. I'm glad he gets up and goes to work in the morning. I would just urge him to look elsewhere.

Oswald Bastable said...

The smart money would have already brought shares in breweries and electronic goods retail chains.

They will be major recipients of the big money resuffle.

Watch rents take a hike also...

Swimming said...

The other interesting thing - as I have blogged - is that there is a possibility of some families getting more through WFF than salary.

Now that's not just a tax break - thats a regular salary for having kids.

Also, Mr Ritchie is actually not getting too much more than a family on $120,000 with five kids.

It's redefining deserving poor to the "undeserving, deserving poor", in the name of "entitlement".

Swimming said...

umm make that third par $100 000