Mike's Minute: I've found some more cost savings for the Government

Do you want some savings?

I have found a couple of hundred million for you then.

A report out has looked at who gets the Winter Energy Payment. It's a shedload of money that is yet again going to be doled out this month for the colder period, so oldies don’t freeze to death.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 6/12/23

For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”

The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week.

The latest press statement came from Education Minister Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA results to express her confidence that Kiwi kids will do much better under the Coalition Government.

Susan St John: If NZ’s new government wants a simple fix to improve child poverty, here’s what it should do

With a National-led coalition government taking shape (how long it takes is another matter), the nation’s “squeezed middle” awaits the financial relief promised during the election campaign.

As the lead party, National’s policies should be central to negotiations. For those without children, its proposed payment of the full Independent Earner Tax Credit for incomes between NZ$24,000 and $66,000 would kick in from April 1 next year.

Susan St John: Family Support

The Labour-National consensus on family support means the election won’t change much for NZ’s poorest households

Casual observers could be forgiven for thinking the National Party’s recently released Working for Families tax policy had been cut and pasted from the Labour Party’s own policy. The similarities are certainly striking.

Bryce Edwards: How Labour’s tax cut will do little but benefit the rich

Who would profit most from Labour’s GST-exemption policy? 

It won’t be those struggling with the cost of living – the average shopper is unlikely to see any real change in supermarket prices if Chris Hipkins was to implement his tax-off fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables.

The real winner would be the supermarket company duopoly who will pocket most of the GST exemption, along with supermarket lobbyists, the lawyers, accountants and public servants who would be in demand to administer and fight over the tax rules. Even if there is a trickle-down in reduced fruit and vege prices, economists say most of this will be disproportionately enjoyed by wealthier shoppers.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Should those on the benefit get the Working for Families tax credit?

If we don’t watch out, we are going to end up in a situation, if we haven’t already, where we make the gap between getting the dole and getting paid for work become so small, that it again ends up being a smart move to just stay at home and collect free money rather than work for a living.

Right now, the Government is considering a change to Working for Families that will only exacerbate this problem.

Working for Families is money that is paid to families who work; the clue is in the name.

But now the Government’s considering also giving the in-work tax credit to families who don’t work, families on the dole.

Lindsay Mitchell: CPAG back in court - again

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is about to return to court for the third time arguing that the In Work Tax Credit should go to beneficiary families. The group has an opinion piece in today's DomPost: 

New Zealand continues to grapple with a poor track record for child poverty and particularly the rising inequality affecting our poorest children. More

Mike Butler: Deficit reveals cost of bad govt

Fed up with Finance Minister Bill English’s “death by 1000 cuts” Budgets, and disgusted with the whole range of commentators who believe in either big or bigger government, I went to Treasury’s Budget appropriations to see by how much I could reduce the deficit. This is what I have found.

In his Budget speech, English blamed a recession that started in 2008, the global financial crisis, and the Canterbury earthquake for the difficulties he faces as finance minister. I suggest the real culprit is the long shadow of barmy policy of successive governments, including his government.