Posts Tagged ‘kiwisaver’

Household debt

Written By: - Date published: 11:47 am, March 8th, 2017 - 93 comments

The IMF warns that our household debt is far too high, as desperate tenants start raiding the Kiwisaver accounts to pay the rent.

Check your Kiwisaver

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, August 18th, 2016 - 22 comments

An excellent piece by Matt Nippert, Caleb Tutty, Olivia Carville in The Herald is generating a lot of discussion this morning. Are you unknowingly investing in tobacco and munitions?

Employers failing Kiwsaver obligations

Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, August 5th, 2016 - 35 comments

In a sign of just how stressed our economy is: “Inland Revenue is chasing employers for unpaid KiwiSaver contributions worth tens of millions of dollars.”

National costs you $100,000 from your retirement fund

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, July 2nd, 2016 - 66 comments

If you’re an average worker the actions of the National government have reduced the value of your KiwiSaver fund at retirement by about $100K.

Destroying a savings culture

Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, June 25th, 2015 - 36 comments

Key: “The removal of the $1,000 kick-start contribution will not make a blind bit of difference to the number of people who join KiwiSaver.” Wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.

Auto Kiwisaver

Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, May 29th, 2015 - 60 comments

Nice to see English acknowledging the importance of Kiwisaver – thanks Michael Cullen, thanks Helen Clark! I certainly support default enrollment. But – isn’t this Big Government Nanny State Gone Mad?

Labour’s housing plan is much better

Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, August 24th, 2014 - 65 comments

National has announced its housing policy using Labour’s Kiwisaver scheme to provide extra money to first home buyers.  But the policy will only add to housing inflation instead of addressing it.

Labour’s Kiwisaver announcement

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, June 17th, 2014 - 202 comments

Labour has released its Kiwisaver policy.  Kiwisaver will now be universal for all workers except those earning less than a to be set level.  Contributions will be gradually increased.  The $1,000 Kick-start and government contribution of up to $521 a year will be retained and will apply to all new enrollments

The retirement age debate

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, March 2nd, 2014 - 164 comments

Labour’s current policy to gradually increase the age of retirement is a fiscally appropriate response to the pressures that will result from the baby boomer bulge in the population approaching retirement. But is it the right thing to do?

KiwiFund: nationalisation or competition?

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 pm, October 21st, 2013 - 61 comments

Winston Peters’ KiwiFund proposal would nationalise KiwiSaver.  Russel Norman supports it, but in competition with private schemes.  Cunliffe is open to negotiation.  Key is dismissive, but says Peters is so untrustworthy he is likely to back down & form an alliance with National anyway.

Dithering Nats

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, April 1st, 2013 - 49 comments

Changes to the tax rules that kick in today reverse two decisions made earlier by the government. Dither dither dither.

Compulsory Kiwisaver?

Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, August 4th, 2011 - 39 comments

Good to see the government considering a move that would significantly boost KiwiSaver uptake – even if it does highlight their ideological inconsistency!

Encouraging savings the National way

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, June 12th, 2011 - 15 comments

Amongst the many vacuous claims made in relation to the last budget, the claim that cuts to KiwiSaver would encourage savings always struck me as the dumbest.  Now the facts are in, and guess what…

The Kiwisaver “employer contribution” scam

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, May 12th, 2011 - 23 comments

The media is claiming Kiwisaver cuts will be offset by increased worker and employer contributions.

But because of a loophole in the scheme National created in 2009, employers can simply take their “contribution” out of their workers’ wages.

No wonder business lobby groups are unconcerned by the move.

What’s the Govt’s economic vision?

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, May 10th, 2010 - 6 comments

To build a brighter future for New Zealand we need to invest in it. We need to build up our national savings, invest in R&D, and build a sustainable, more self-sufficient economy. National has cut savings and R&D investment, and talked down New Zealand’s potential for hi-tech manufacture. Seems they’re only interested in short term pay offs for the rich.

Reviews of Nats’ tax cut/Kiwisaver cut/R&D cut policy

Written By: - Date published: 7:27 pm, October 8th, 2008 - 37 comments

Just a quick note at the start for our press gallery friends who live in central Wellington on high incomes. 50% of New Zealanders have an income below $27,000 and 50% of workers earn less than $37,000 a year (all of which is heaps higher than it was under National). The point is this: National’s […]

Nats break into your piggy-bank

Written By: - Date published: 3:42 pm, October 8th, 2008 - 61 comments

John Key has announced that Kiwisaver would be slashed along with National’s tax cuts for the rich (and they are tax cuts for the rich, while most people would get less than under Labour’s plan, under National’s plan by 2011 around half a billion a year more than under Labour’s plan would be going to […]

Great expectations

Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, October 1st, 2008 - 25 comments

John Key is being pretty evasive on his tax cut plan. He won’t say whether the famous ‘$50 a week for the average worker’ (note that’s not every worker, your income has to be $47K plus) is additional to Labour’s cuts, the first round of which came into effect today. Given the evasiveness, it’s safe to […]

Kiwisaver cuts to fund Nats’ tax cuts?

Written By: - Date published: 4:54 pm, August 5th, 2008 - 16 comments

So, the rumour is that Kiwisaver will be slashed to fund National’s tax cut policy. Currently, the Government spends up to the following on each Kiwisaver member: – $1000 on sign-up – Up to $1040 a year in matching contributions – Up to $1040 a year in tax credit to employers – 30% tax deduction […]

EMA Kiwisaver campaign in breach of EFA?

Written By: - Date published: 6:53 pm, July 23rd, 2008 - 55 comments

The Employers and Manufacturers Association’s advertising campaign to defend the ability of employers to make workers pay their own Kiwisaver employer contribution while pocketing the taxpayer subsidy is the most hamfisted and transparently cynical piece of PR I’ve seen in some time. It’s outragous that the EMA should claim it’s standing up for workers’ rights […]

More anti-worker policy from the Nats

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, July 8th, 2008 - 55 comments

On Sunday, Bill English let slip that National still intends to take away the work rights of employees of small businesses for the first 90 days of employment. Now, National’s Shane Ardern has spilled the beans on the Nats’ policy to cut the contributions to hundreds of thousands of Kiwis’ Kiwisaver plans. In the Te […]

Notional Policy: Kiwisaver

Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, May 30th, 2008 - 24 comments

Tracy Watkins reported yesterday that National’s weakening of the employer contribution to Kiwisaver may take a different path to the one we envisaged. Rather than limiting employer contributions to a lower level Watkins reports businesses want to be able to dock or cut wages to compensate for the Kiwisaver contributions they make. This is currently […]

Why didn’t Kate know Nats’ Kiwisaver policy?

Written By: - Date published: 12:48 pm, May 29th, 2008 - 34 comments

The most surprising thing to come of the National’s Kiwisaver fiasco is not that they want to undermine the scheme and get employers out of paying their part (this is the party of big business, after all). No, the real shock is to learn that Kate Wilkinson, National’s Industrial Relations spokesperson, is not involved in […]

“pretty similar”

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, May 29th, 2008 - 60 comments

I noticed an interesting comment from Ferdinand in our Kiwisaver thread yesterday: I signed up to Kiwisaver based on the 4% employer contribution being rolled out. If National cap that at 1% then I’m out of pocket by about $75,000 in contributions alone. That got me thinking about that meaningless phrase John Key used to […]

Nats to journos: say what we want or shut up

Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, May 28th, 2008 - 19 comments

Here’s Barry Soper on ZB on the ‘Kate-gate‘ Kiwisaver debacle: What I found interesting was the way it was handled. I was the only person this time yesterday at this particular breakfast and it was a question from the floor. Kate Wilkinson quite clearly said that employer contributions to KiwiSaver was not going to be compulsory.  Now, […]

Kremlinology: National and Kiwisaver

Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, May 28th, 2008 - 15 comments

National’s refusal to say what it stands for is becoming so ridiculous we have resorted to the Cold War art of Kremlinology. Today, we look at Kiwisaver. National has had a tortured relationship with Kiwisaver. When it was first introduced in 2005 John Key described it as a “terribly designed system” and spent the next […]

The Nats on KiwiSaver

Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, May 28th, 2008 - 15 comments

Here’s the footage of the Nats’ accidental commitment to employer contributions under KiwiSaver. The first video is of TV3’s 6pm coverage, the second is extra footage of Mallard and Cullen discussing National’s accidental revelation.  

The status of KiwiSaver

Written By: - Date published: 3:03 pm, May 27th, 2008 - 34 comments

Tracy Watkins reports: “National has been forced into an embarrassing u-turn on KiwiSaver after its industrial relations spokeswoman Kate Wilkinson appeared to put the kibosh on a major component of the scheme. Ms Wilkinson was forced to retract comments made earlier today suggesting National would do away with the compulsory employer contribution.” On his blog Vernon […]

National still won’t say what they’d do

Written By: - Date published: 2:41 pm, May 21st, 2008 - 9 comments

Seemingly content to coast along on the “time for a change” sentiment, the National Party are still refusing to offer any substantive details in major policy areas: government debt, work rights and retirement savings. English ended up sounding like a broken record on Agenda a few days back. His stock answer was ‘I can’t tell […]