Celebrating 25 Years of Scoop
No Prime Minister, it’s actually on us!
MEDIA
RELEASE “There is no such thing as a free lunch,
or a ‘free’ tertiary education," points out the
Taxpayers' Union Spokesman, Jordan Williams,
responding to media comments by the Prime Minister that high
school student can start their tertiary study next year for
“free”. "Labour's policy reaches into the
pockets of the disadvantaged, to line the wallets of the
future’s wealthy,” says Williams. “Last night
Fairfax ran a headline ‘Jacinda Ardern to high schoolers: Next
year's on me’. What she really means is ‘Next
year’s on the taxpayer’.” In August, the
Taxpayers’ Union released a briefing paper
examining Labour’s "zero fees" policy, Robin Hood Reversed: How Free Tertiary
Education Robs Today’s Poor for Tomorrow’s Rich.
The key findings of the paper were: • Taxpayers
already cover 84 percent of the cost of obtaining a tertiary
degree. • The average household currently pays $2,456 in
tax per year to fund tertiary education. • Fully
implemented, Labour's proposal would increase that cost by
$852.57 per year. • Low and middle-income earners will
pay more to subsidise tomorrow's rich.
• Likely effects
of the policy, based on the experience in Scotland with its
zero fees policy, include: o more job shortages in crucial
skills-based areas, o lower quality tertiary
education, o less access to education for students from
disadvantaged or low socioeconomic backgrounds, o less
social mobility and entrenched income inequality. The
report is available at www.taxpayers.org.nz/robin_hood_reversed. ENDS
No Prime
Minister, it’s actually on
us!
27 OCTOBER
2017
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