29 JANUARY 2020

The acting Retirement Commissioner does a disservice to young taxpayers by kicking the can down the road on the Super age, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The message that Super is sustainable for ‘another 30 years’ is cold comfort for young taxpayers. I’m in my twenties – what good does it do me to spend 30 years forking out for ever-increasing pension costs only to have the age yanked up just before my retirement?”

“A fairer approach is to phase in changes slowly, starting in the next few years. This will ease costs for young taxpayers while spreading the effects of a pension age increase across generations.”

“There’s nothing special about New Zealand that protects us from demographic trends that have seen retirement ages rise across the developed world. Politicians will increase the eligibility age – we just need to tell them when.”

“We can also reduce the need for extreme changes to the age by tying pension payments to inflation, instead of the average wage.”

ENDS

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