In this section
Offers for readers
Follow the news from interest
The comment stream
Recent comments
... love the MIB Barack Obama cartoon ........
Gotta question for the troops ( re. Facebook IPO )...
Gummy Bear Hero
Friday's Top 10 with NZ Mint
- 1 of 20816
- ››
Editors choice
- 1 of 295
- ››
Finance sector jobs
Senior Liability Underwriting Manager
Lead from the front utilising your strategic, technical and leadership qualities within th...more
New Zealand
Lead from the front utilising your strategic, technical and leadership qualities within th...more
New Zealand
Senior Liability Product Underwriter - Product Management
Lead from the front utilising your technical expertise in this highly attractive senior li...more
New Zealand
Lead from the front utilising your technical expertise in this highly attractive senior li...more
New Zealand
High Performing Senior Liability UnderwriterHigh Performing Senior Liability Underwriter
Customer focus, high performance, exceeding client expectations and achieving profitable g...more
New Zealand
Customer focus, high performance, exceeding client expectations and achieving profitable g...more
New Zealand
Head of Retail Credit -Wellington, NZ
Key leadership position in the bank. Be a part of one of the fastest growing banks in New ...more
New Zealand
Key leadership position in the bank. Be a part of one of the fastest growing banks in New ...more
New Zealand
The news stream
Latest news
Most commented
- Fonterra to tighten TAF rules 64
- Govt eyes NZ$1.4b revenue grab 58
- English defends current account blowout 54
- 90 seconds at 9 am 51
- BNZ cuts most fixed mortgage rates 48
- 90 seconds at 9 am 43
- Thursday's Top 10 with NZ Mint 38
- Budget 2012 reactions 36
- Budget tax moves to target high income NZers 29
- Wednesday's Top 10 with NZ Mint 24
Most viewed
John Key: Family on $44,000 pays zero tax
Hon Phil Goff: Is it correct that low-income families with children will get nothing from the tax cuts today, and that that is why the Prime Minister told high-income earners who get hundreds of dollars extra in tax cuts that they should give to charities, in line with his trickle-down theory?
Hon JOHN KEY: No, that is not true. They get a Working for Families increase, which started on 1 October. Let me make this one point: let us take somebody on $44,000 a year, with two children. It is true that he or she gets a small tax cut"”
Hon Phil Goff: No tax cut!
Hon JOHN KEY: On $44,000 the person does, Phil; do the maths. But that person does not pay any tax. Somebody on $44,000 a year, with two children, pays zero tax.
Wow - that is a
Wow - that is a burn! Good spotting ;)
So that person on $44k
So that person on $44k pa pays no GST? Nothing to ACC? No other levies, school "donations", "user pays" levies, etc? Amazing.
I have wondered whether the
I have wondered whether the main reason Labour lost the election was Working for Families. WFF meant that many families simply no longer needed to vote Labour- it pushed them out of struggle street and made them feel confident enough to vote National. I don't think many commentators realise just how much of a difference it made to low income families- it gave them the buying power of families earning much more than them.
We just missed out on WFF because my oldest had just left home. But had we qualified for it we would have been as wealthy as a family earning many, many thousands more than us. WFF levelled the playing field so much I think it almost went too far. I didn't vote for National, but I agree with them in this case- low income families have done very well in the last few years and it is time for other segments of society to get something back.
WFF is one of the
WFF is one of the many things that will be really, really coming back to bite the NZ government in the backside now. With more and more people not doing overtime and not getting bonuses and not getting pay rises, not only will the IRD's revenue be down, but there will be an increased drawdown on WFF.
By the way, the famous "Obama Tax Cuts" involved giving "tax cuts" to the people who already paid no tax; i.e. their IRS became a net dispenser of funds to many people, just like welfare, only called "tax cuts". That is probably what our Labour Opposition is talking about.