Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is open to discussing whether New Zealand’s superannuation should be means-tested.
Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Kerre Woodham he would not want full means-testing of the country’s pension but added “there are questions”.
“I don’t want to do this on a unilateral basis, I think these need to be conversations across the Parliament about whether somebody who is still working full time, earning a six-figure salary should be claiming superannuation.
“I am open to a conversation about that, but I think it has to be done in a constructive, bipartisan way.”
Asked how long such discussions between parties could last before something happened, Hipkins said, “I guess it depends whether there is an appetite across the Parliament to even have that conversation”.
I hope there is. I think the current scheme (without means testing) should be locked in for everyone born before 1981. But for those aged 45 or under, the replacement scheme should be:
- Age of eligibility 67, and increases by 1 year for every two year increase in average life expectancy over 82 (so if it becomes 86, then eligibility at 69).
- A non work tested benefit for those aged between 65 and the eligibility age, set at 1.25 times the jobseeker benefit
- Annual adjustments to NZ Super of CPI +0.25% so it increases in real terms, but not as fast as wage growth
- Means testing with NZ Super abating if you earn $180,000 at 25c per dollars above that, so fully abated at $280,000
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition.
6 comments:
When the government sorts out all their waste and MÄori profligacy come back with this conversation.
The talk is that administration costs would probably out-weigh any benefit/savings. Can you imagine the new extra army of public servants need to run the scheme?
Makes a great sound bite for him anyway...
By all means inch the age up some. Means test? Never payoff.
Labour is not ‘the party of the workers’. It is the party of those who leech off them
maybe the best is a flat tax rate 25% from zero that has a great impact on this claw back. earn your super and earn a further $80k your tax is now less than the super.
Make it bureaucrat zero.
Muldoon introduced the universal scheme as it was easy and cost effective to administer compared to the individual scheme that Labour introduced. Nothing has changed. Up the entitlement age by all means (Remember when it went from 60 to 65?). But means testing, as one commenter has said, will cost as much to administer as any savings gained. Perhaps that's what Chippy wants; more public servants
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