Making babies on a benefit

Kiwiblog has pointed out that someone adding another child to a benefit under Labour's baby bribe scheme will be $128 better off. I make it $124. Below are the existing Family Tax Credit payments made to beneficiaries with children. The baby bribe is on top of these.

Age/number of children	Weekly rate from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013
First child if under 16	$92
First child if 16 or over	$101
Subsequent child if under 13	$64
Subsequent child if 13 to 15	$73
Subsequent child if 16 or over	$91

So you are young, unskilled and uneducated. Having a baby will get you a benefit ($295 weekly) and accommodation supplement (up to $225 weekly in Auckland) plus $152 a week the first time. Add another baby and you'll get a further $124. It's not bad money.

(Just ball park figures for anyone who weants to nitpick. Quite possibly AS will be abated if other income rises but that's unknown at this stage.)