Wellington council candidate welcomes call to postpone GST hike on rates

Wellington City Council Lambton Ward candidate Marcus Ganley today welcomed the call by Labour Leader Phil Goff to include rates for the 2010-11 year in the raft of measures to be exempted from the initial impact of the 1 October GST hike.

Phil Goff's statement.

Earlier this month the Government announced that, due to the complexity of the transition to a higher GST rate certain items would be exempted for a transitional period. They include finance leases those entered into before 1 October 2010 for a maximum of five years and Christmas club memberships.

“Given our rates are stuck as at 1 July for a 12 month period, they should also be included in the transitional exemption. Wellington City has already written to ratepayers suggesting that those who can afford it pay their rates in full before 1 October to avoid the GST hike,“ Marcus Ganley said.

"As I noted noted earlier this month when I received the suggestion from the Council, this is not an option for most ratepayers, who struggle to pay their rates each quarter, let alone a whole year in one go ."

ENDS

© Scoop Media