KiwiSaver: the National Party effect

KiwiSaver: the National Party effect
THERE'S MUCH that's unclear about the National Party's policy on KiwiSaver, including whether it will do anything to get them elected. But one thing is certain: KiwiSaver nest eggs under Labour are bigger and go further towards securing your retirement. A friendly fund manager, who did not want to be named in order to avoid hacking off a potential future government, ran off a set of figures for us to test what National policy would do to KiwiSaver nest eggs. The Nats would cut the minimum contribution rate required of employers to 2% (from the target under Labour of 4%), and remove the tax credits the government (i.e. the taxpayer) would have forked over to employers to help them meet the 4% they were to chip in. Therefore a $45,000 salary earner saving into KiwiSaver for 15 yearswould have about $31,250 less in his or her nest egg at retirement. If that person were saving for 30 years, the difference would be just over $92,300. Invested to produce income, that would mean a good few thousand less to spend each year enjoying your retirement years.

National really dropped the ball on Kiwisaver didn’t they? As if the tax cuts were underwhelming enough not to mention penalizing those who get Working for Families, you get the real feeling that the Nats were surprised by how badly the accounts actually were and made changes in the heat of the moment that they may not have foreseen the consequences of, because the panning of their centerpiece election platform has been criticized across the political spectrum with many questioning the wisdom of attacking our savings and research at a time when savings and research are going to be vital to survive the economic collapse. The interesting thing is that the TV3 and Roy Morgan Poll (two polls that are traditionally very close to the end election day result) that showed a National Party collapse of soft vote was taken BEFORE the full ramifications of Nationals watering down Kiwisaver had occurred, so the full voter backlash could be seen next week. It was painful to watch Guy Espiner actually rubbishing his own Colmar Brunton TV One Poll on Sunday by saying that he didn’t believe the result they were showing was reflecting the reality on the ground, seeing as the Colmar Brunton Poll has been the most incorrect Poll in the last two elections (off by 5 points last time) there have to be some questions asked about their appalling polling this time around. With Labour announcing Universal Allowances and Winston getting off the SFO investigation, this election is now sooooooo wide open.