Sharechat Logo

Savings group to mull compulsory KiwiSaver

Tuesday 24th August 2010 2 Comments

Text too small?

The government's newly announced Savings Working Group will consider the benefits of compulsory KiwiSaver and changing the tax treatment on savings.  

The group, headed up by Grant Thornton chairman Kerry McDonald, aims to give Finance Minister Bill English advice on how to stoke national savings, and will focus on government saving, tax on capital income, and the role of KiwiSaver.

It will specifically look at the case for moving to a dual tax system, where labour and savings and investment income are taxed at different rates. The group hasn't been told to focus on retirement savings.

"Increasing our national savings and investment levels is a critical issue for New Zealand, because of our heavy reliance on foreign capital," English said in a statement.

"This has produced high and rising debt to the rest of the world, which cannot continue."

English said the group's brief excludes New Zealand Superannuation and a broad tax on capital gains or land.

Along with McDonald, the group is made up of Capital Markets Research director Craig Ansley, Motu research fellow Andrew Coleman, columnist Mary Holm, central bank Assistant Governor John McDermott, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Paul Mersi and BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis.

The group aims to prepare a draft report by the end of the year, and return to the government in January.

Businesswire.co.nz



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

On 24 August 2010 at 1:30 pm paul said:
for a start why not stop the tax on overseas share investments ....this creates a poll of tax income for the government which will only get bigger over time..so of course they will want to set up a compulsory saving scheme.
On 25 August 2010 at 12:37 pm g murphy said:
"a broad tax on capital gains or land". we all know what that means, don,t we. no incentive there to invest in the nz economy.
Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report