UF has solution to OECD problem

United Future leader, Peter Dunne, says his party has the obvious solution to a problem identified by the OECD in its report Babies and Bosses, due to be released tomorrow, which reviews New Zealand’s policies that support parents in their choice of work and childcare options.

“Although much public attention has been focussed on the recommendation that the Domestic Purposes Benefit be cut,” he says, “a much more fundamental matter is the observation that the Government’s ‘Working for Families’ package does little to lower the tax rates facing the second earner in a two-parent family, giving them limited incentive to work or search for a job.

“United Future has for years been advocating income splitting for tax purposes – a system in which the income of both parents is combined and then halved for tax purposes, leading to a lower tax rate for working families.

“This leaves more money available to the family for childcare and other family support services, precisely at the time when it is most needed.

“For example, a couple with a single income of $55,000 a year now pay tax of $13,020, leaving them with $41,980 in the hand.

“Under income splitting, their annual tax would be $10,725, leaving them with $44,275 in the hand, a pay rise of $2295 a year.”

Me Dunne said United Future will continue to push this policy right through to the next election and beyond as part of its commitment to improving conditions for the New Zealand family.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>