Christmas poverty

With all the noise surrounding Christmas sales being touted by retailers a full two months before December 25, one could be forgiven for being tired of the very concept by the time the big feast day/holiday arrives.

Does anyone else besides me leave the room whenever an ad for a Christmas sale appears on the television?

The trouble is, there is a limit to the number of cups of tea one can consume in a day.

However, for Christians, Christmas portrays the birth of Jesus in utter poverty in a stable, having been turned away from more salubrious commercial accommodation.

This image should resonate with many of our people these days.

Housing, especially for lower income families, is a huge problem at the moment.

This is caused by a combination of factors: a) the unavailability of suitable houses; b) the exorbitant prices being asked for houses, especially in the bigger cities; c) the unwillingness of financial institutions to loan money to people on lower incomes; d) the uncertainty of employment; e) the inability of individuals or families to stump up even the deposit on a house.

Add all this to the financial pressures being placed on families simply by the need to survive and we have a serious problem.

Accommodation is not the only challenge.

What about the price of food, power and transport?

Much is being said at the moment about the poverty in which children are living in our country.

But it’s not only children. The elderly also are severely affected in many cases.

There are many, including our Department of Statistics, who consider the elderly as well off, especially if they own their homes, but have you forgotten the rates bill for homeowners?

There is a well-documented ladder of poverty for such people.

In middle age, when the children have largely flown the nest (hopefully), there could be two incomes in a household.

These could bring in an average of $75,000 per year, much of which would go on paying off the mortgage.

Come age 65, both people retire.

If they have not been able to save retirement funds, their only income would be from superannuation, or $28,000 a year, a drop of $47,000.

Let’s say one of them dies (which is quite possible, given their age).

The remaining spouse stays living in the house on an annual income mately $21,000.

Now that might sound fine, but what has happened to the rates in that time?

Have they reduced along with the income? Not on your life. According to the totally unrealistic property valuation method of assessing rates, these will have escalated to the point where rates alone could take as much as 37 per cent of the survivor’s income.

Add to that all the other taxes which must be paid, particularly GST which is another 15 per cent.

And how much would that leave the elderly person to live on, as well as pay power, phone and maintenance of the property? I leave the maths to you. Christmas, from one angle, is the poor person’s feast.

From another point of view it is the poor person’s famine. Most of us can enjoy the Christmas festivities, but there is always the minority who cannot afford to.

It is so good to see the numbers of gifts being supplied for the underprivileged through promotions like Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree programme, the K-Mart Christmas gift tree and the like.

Once again New Zealanders are living up to their reputation of being generous to those less fortunate.

May the blessings and peace of Christmas be on all our readers.

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