Labour / NZ First Government

[fungus pudding]

In which case those of us earning less than $35,000 should only pay the bottom rate on our total income.

Tax on 35k is approx, 15% - not much above the minimum rate.

[justakiwi]

$14,000 is taxed at 10.5%
$21,000 is taxed at 17.5%

average tax rate is 16.09% which is 5.59% higher than the 10.5% rate. Not much to you, but approx $2000 difference is significant to me. It is very easy for those on high incomes to just brush off a measly amount like that, but for people on low incomes, every $ matters.

Tax on 35k is approx, 15% - not much above the minimum rate.

[Zaphod]

It's not that easy.
PIE income will become more attractive.

Yes, although I had assumed though that Labour would address this to avoid further distorting the tax system. I've probably assumed incorrectly!

[Zaphod]

$14,000 is taxed at 10.5%
$21,000 is taxed at 17.5%

average tax rate is 16.09% which is 5.59% higher than the 10.5% rate. Not much to you, but approx $2000 difference is significant to me. It is very easy for those on high incomes to just brush off a measly amount like that, but for people on low incomes, every $ matters.

WFF does partly address this for those with children, however I haven't heard any party propose wholesale changes to the tax brackets apart from the flat-tax supporters.

[moka]

Something needs to change though. At the moment there is a lot of corporate welfare - the ability of business to pay low wages because the Govt effectively tops it up through 'working for families' and the like.

The Accommodation Supplement (AS) is a significant government subsidy of the private rental market, covering the cost of approximately 10 per cent of the $10 billion to $12b rents paid to private landlords a year. Although it assists some recipients with mortgage payments, the AS helps neither the state nor the vast majority of its low-income recipients accumulate or maintain assets for themselves.

A major problem with the AS formula is that entitlement is directly linked to actual housing costs. Evidence suggests this link helps keep rents high and makes it difficult for recipients to save money by moving to cheaper accommodation because, as their housing costs go down, their AS entitlements also go down. Besides, if they do save, they quickly become ineligible for the AS due to the cash assets test.

While AS is supposed to help with housing costs to protect living standards of low-income people, most recipients are still consigned to poverty, and its bad design actually helps fuel New Zealand's housing crisis.

For all these reasons, the Child Poverty Action Group's just released report, The Accommodation Supplement: the wrong tool to fix the house, calls for the Government to remove the AS for most recipients while significantly raising incomes of all benefit recipients and low-wage workers.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opi...housing-crisis

[moka]

Which tenets of neoliberalism make those three inevitable, and are any tenets OK? The new government can make changes but will they?

“Poverty, Housing and Tax. All 3 are the same issue, welded together” = neoliberalism. All in the very hard basket.

Poverty is a measure of success for neoliberalism. It means its agenda is working, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Driving down wages, making people desperate for work, forced to take any job and accept poor working conditions and just be grateful that they have a job, is part of the agenda to reduce costs.

Neoliberalism means economic freedom for the haves, less government, less regulation, stripping away protection and benefits that workers and consumers have struggled to achieve over the years. Neoliberalism is an extreme for of capitalism - predatory capitalism and vulture capitalism. Neoliberalism wants to undermine democracy so the financial elites are in effect ruling the world, and laws are made that favour them, rather than society as a whole.

It is an ideology that says the government should not intervene in the free market and if people are homeless that is just the market at work. Neoliberalism reduces people, land and nature to commodities when they are not commodities in the sense that a commodity is something that is used to produce a product. Land and housing have become commodities for speculation and investment and the “use value” of a house as a home has become secondary.

The economy is there to support society, but society has become secondary to the economy under "free market" neoliberalism.

[fungus pudding]

$14,000 is taxed at 10.5%
$21,000 is taxed at 17.5%

average tax rate is 16.09% which is 5.59% higher than the 10.5% rate. Not much to you, but approx $2000 difference is significant to me. It is very easy for those on high incomes to just brush off a measly amount like that, but for people on low incomes, every $ matters.

Tax on 35k is 5145; which is 14.7%
Use the proper IRD calculator.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/i...or-individuals

[justakiwi]

I did use an IRD calculator but it was not the one you posted for some reason. My bad. But it doesn't change my argument. Every dollar low income people don't have to pay in tax, is a dollar they can use to feed their children, pay their bills or save for emergencies.

Tax on 35k is 5145; which is 14.7%
Use the proper IRD calculator.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/i...or-individuals

[Stumpynuts]

People can opt out of the Winter Energy Payment - I'm guessing you took up that option.

The silence is deafening.....

I'm guessing took the free govt handouts and continues to complain about the govt giving free handouts.

[justakiwi]

Balance has made it very clear that even though he disagrees with everything the government does, and does not support any form of social assistance, he will happily continue to take whatever he qualifies for - whether he needs it or not.

The silence is deafening.....

I'm guessing took the free govt handouts and continues to complain about the govt giving free handouts.