Shocked, saddened at inequality in New Zealand
THANK you for publishing the article and statistics by Aimee Shaw about New Zealand’s lowwage economy (ODT, 7.1.19).
I would like to add the fact that one of the main causes of poverty and inequality in New Zealand is the Government itself. Poor people in New Zealand, those on low wages and even beneficiaries, are taxed at a whopping 25%plus from the first dollar (10.5% income tax plus 15% GST).
GST is called a regressive tax because it affects those with less more proportionately than those with more, as those with less spend more than they can save.
That’s a quarter of their income going straight to the Beehive, and it goes up to nearly 30% once you earn the princely sum of $14,000 per year.
Australia has a taxfree threshold of $18,000 and no GST on food or other essentials. It also has a healthcare card for lowincome earners which actually does something by giving them considerable discounts on electricity, rates and gas as well as public transport, unlike our community services card.
This is why there is nowhere near the level of poverty in Australia as there is here. This is basic fiscal policy that Jacinda Adern’s government completely understands yet does nothing to remedy.
It makes me wonder if they are genuine at all in their preelection promises about addressing inequality and gender bias in New Zealand.
Why, for instance, do house cleaners, typically women, earn, if they are lucky, $20 an hour when someone mowing a lawn, typically men, can charge $30 or more?
I left New Zealand in 1986 and lived in Australia for 25 years before returning to a shockingly unequal society with blatant poverty on the streets that wasn’t here when I left.
It is not a problem of fewer people. There is plenty of money in New Zealand — it is just not fairly distributed. It is a problem of distribution, legislation and tax.
Since coming back, my income has done nothing but go down and my expenses nothing but go up, and I am always wondering if I should go back to Australia, like so many other New Zealanders.
Penelope Sell
Dunedin [Abridged]