Far fewer than 2.1m receive payment

WELLINGTON: The Government is coming under further pressure over its costofliving payment rollout — this time because it has reached far fewer people than advertised.

The National Party has been criticising the payment to nonbeneficiary New Zealanders earning under $70,000 a year, after reports people living overseas had been given the first $116 instalment.

Revenue Minister David Parker said on Monday the Government did not know how many ineligible people might have received the payment.

In a statement Inland Revenue (IRD) said yesterday it did not have a firm estimate of how many people overseas might have received it.

‘‘We base someone’s eligibility on the information we hold at the time of assessing their eligibility.

‘‘In some instances, residential information may be out of date if customers haven’t advised us they have left New Zealand.’’

Since it announced the payment in the Budget in May, the Government has consistently claimed more than 2.1 million people would be eligible; IRD yesterday confirmed just over 1.4 million had so far met the eligibility criteria. Of those, just over 1.3 million had received it.

Some 137,000 missed out because IRD did not have bank account information for them.

National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis said the Government was being misleading with the 2.1 million figure.

‘‘Ministers need to account for themselves in that regard and I want to know why they aren’t across the details of this.

‘‘All they’re doing is shoving money out the door without regard to who’s actually receiving it.’’

She would not say Mr Parker should be removed from the revenue portfolio, only that he should ‘‘take responsibility’’.

‘‘Ultimately it will be up to the Prime Minister to determine what ministerial mistakes have been made here.’’

Ms Willis said she would be writing to the auditorgeneral calling for an investigation.

However, Mr Parker was adamant the payment would — eventually — reach about 2.1 million people.

‘‘The 2.1 [million] number remains correct, but people don’t become eligible until they’ve filed their tax return and provided other information to Inland Revenue, so don’t take the bait on people who say that the 1.3 million is the total. It’s not and it was never going to be.’’

The shortfall, he said, was because people were only eligible if they earned $70,000 or less in the year ended March 31.

‘‘Obviously, Inland Revenue can only calculate that after people file their tax return.

‘‘For most people now that is done automatically, but people on IR3 returns and the like file on a different timetable, as do some people who use tax agents, but that’s always been known,’’ he said.

He was comfortable with the errors on the margins.

‘‘We obviously prefer if there’s none, but the only alternative is wasting money on further administrative costs that would cost more.

‘‘So, yes, I’m confident that [Inland] Revenue and the Government have chosen to do it in the right way.’’

He put a red line under National’s tax cuts proposal, saying it would give much more money to those overseas, and less to those who needed it, than Labour’s.

‘‘The National Party would have you believe that their alternative, which was tax cuts of tens of thousands of dollars for chief executives and $2 a week to someone on the minimum wage, is better than what we’re doing.’’

IRD said it would run eligibility checks every day and ‘‘we expect the number of people meeting the eligibility criteria to increase towards the 2.1 million over time’’. — RNZ

❛ All they’re doing is shoving money out the door without regard to who’s actually receiving it