The GST increase on 1 October is going to have a lot of consequences, from the price of stamps going up, to schools struggling to work out how they will pay for an additional costs. Marcus Ganley, the Labour Candidate for Lambton Ward of the Wellington City Council has drawn another matter to my attention in his recent post.
The Wellington City Council has sent out a note to ratepayers suggesting that one way they can avoid the GST increase is to make their next three rate payments before the 1st of October. A nice idea, but many Wellington ratepayers are struggling to make one payment at the moment, let alone, as Marcus says three payments in the next seven
Posted in Local Government, Tax and GST. |
It really is sobering stuff from Statistics New Zealand today with pretty big price increases in basic items. Everything is up, meat, vegetables, milk. As the Stats NZ Prices Manager said
“Although food prices are now 2.2 percent higher than a year ago, they are 12.0 percent higher than two years ago,” Mr Pike said.
This is putting a lot of pressure on people on low to middle incomes. I have seen some people in real distress in my own electorate, and social services agencies have been reporting big increases in clients. I was in Whanganui last week, and the City Mission there is struggling to cope with people looking for support, including food parcels.
Surely in the face of this the government has to re-think an increase in GST?
Posted in Tax, GST and Cost of Living. |
