Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Plucking numbers out the air?

In Australia where the government plans to abolish the Baby Bonus here's the evidence about the actual costs of raising a child:

The budget measure was a recommendation of the Henry Tax Review. The review noted that government-funded research had found that the actual direct costs of children for low-income families were closer to $2,000 for a first child and $1,000 for a second child and that the current Baby Bonus rates covers much more than these costs.[4]

In New Zealand where Labour wants to introduce a Baby Bonus heres the evidence about the actual costs of raising a child:

 A recent study commissioned by the IRD estimated that it costs about $14,000 a year to raise a child until the age of twelve (Claus,Leggett and Wang, Costs of raising children, 2009). Costs ranged from 15% of weekly household income for a high-income household through to 21% for a low-income household.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apples to Oranges?

Actual direct costs of necessities vs what families really spend?

l mean, a good daycare centre is $100/child/day for starters. That's a bit more than $2,000 per year!

The actual paper is here:
http://nzae.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Costs_of_raising_children_NZAE_paper_v2.pdf

JC said...

Yes.. but..

By age two the NZ baby will have completed a PHD, shorn his first sheep, ridden countless waves and be working (part time) between nappy changes to repay his parents for their sacrifices in raising him to this stage.

You don't see that in Australia!

JC

Lindsay Mitchell said...

JC,

My 19 year-old son and I were recently bemused to hear a radio report saying something to the effect that, "...pre-schoolers and their parents are struggling to find employment".

Your comment has helped me visualise that predicament.