Today increases to the minimum wage and superannuation come into being. Yesterday Radio New Zealand said this:
Increases in the minimum wage and superannuation kick in tomorrow, along with several measures aimed to help businesses.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the April 1 changes are intended to grow the economy and improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders.
Among the measures is the largest ever rise in the minimum wage, which increases by $1.20 to $17.70 an hour.
Superannuation and veterans’ pensions will increase by 2.6 percent.
A research and development incentive will provide a 15 percent tax credit to businesses that spend more than $50,000 on research and development from tomorrow.
ACC levies will also fall tomorrow.
You would think that everyone would celebrate the Government acting to improve the plight of those less fortunate in our society. But not everyone.
From Television New Zealand:
National Party leader Simon Bridges has again spoken out against the minimum wage increase which comes into effect today, calling it “too far, too fast”.
The pay boost, from $16.50 to $17.70, will see around 200,000 Kiwis benefit.
Mr Bridges told TVNZ1’s Breakfast this morning that the Government “should increase the minimum wage every single year”, but added the $1.20 rise will add undue stress to many of the small businesses which are “doing it tough”.
“It’s an accumulative effect, right? This is why the economy is weakening.
It’s not just capital gains tax, it’s not just minimum wage, it’s doing away with the 90-day trial, it’s unionizing the workforce – it’s all of these things which means they don’t have a certainty and confidence,” he said.
Mr Bridges added that society made the decision for taxpayers to subsidise low-paid workers through welfare.
“The truth is, as a society, we made that decision, you know?
If you’re not a 17-year-old on the minimum wage, but if you’re a mum or a dad and you’ve got one, two, three children and you’ve got different circumstances, you will be getting supplements for your home rentals, you will be getting Working for Families.
So as a society, [we’ve] decided that that’s the right thing to do.
“We already – through Working for Families, through rental supplements and the like – are supporting them,” he concluded. “But to have that small business doing it? Look, they just can’t.”
It is interesting that Bridges has essentially conceded that the current system is not working, that businesses survive only because the Government subsidises wages. The last time I looked businesses such as McDonalds, Starbucks and Burger King were doing pretty well mainly because their wages bill was so low.
And so many wealthy institutions whose cleaning bills are low thanks to low levels of pay are also enjoying something at someone else’s cost.
Well done to the Government for doing this. Can someone on the right explain how they would improve things?
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