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The baby bribe goes mainly to the rich and beneficiaries

David Farrar
Fri, 31 Jan 2014

As we all know now Labour lied when they said 60,000 families a year will get Labour’s promised $3000 baby bribe or “Best Start Payment”.  We now know that the 25,000 families who get paid parental leave will not get it for a year, just six months. So they’ll get $1,500 only – not $3.000

But the fine print also reveals that the 15,000 families who get the Parental Tax Credit of $1,200 will lose that, so their net gain will be a mere $1,800.

The PTC goes to families who do not get paid parental leave, are not on a benefit and earn under $80,000 to $110,000 (depending on number of children).

So that means only around 20,000 families will get the full $3,000 that Labour claimed 60,000 families will get.

So who are those 20,000 families. They are either beneficiaries or those earning around $100,000 to $150,000. They are the only ones who get the full $3,000.

Not exactly well targeted support. And very different to what Labour’s speech and advertisement said.

If Labour hadn’t wanted to deceive, they would have done tables showing how different families would be impacted – what they gain and what they lose. But instead they did tables just showing what they gain.

Political commentator David Farrar posts at Kiwiblog.

David Farrar
Fri, 31 Jan 2014
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The baby bribe goes mainly to the rich and beneficiaries
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