August 20, 2014
Tax pitched at child poverty
Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says a 40 percent top tax rate is an important step towards creating a fairer society.
The Greens are proposing to apply the top rate to incomes over $140,000, and use the money to address child poverty.
This will be done through a new Children's Credit that will give an extra $60 a week to beneficiary and student families currently missing out, and a non-discriminatory Parental Tax Credit of $220 a week in the first weeks of life for the poorest children.
They will also spend an extra $500 million a year investment in children's health and education.
Ms Turei says high income earners in New Zealand need to pay their fair share.
"We have actually one of the lowest income tax rates around the OECD. At the moment the top tax rate is the fourth lowest. Even with our increase it's going to be comparatively low. There's a lot more we can do and in the countries where there are very low levels of child poverty, there are very high levels of tax rate at the very top, and so we know that this is how you create a fair society, this is how you do it," she says.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH METIRIA TUREI CLCK ON THE LINK
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