London is calling.
This is Laura from London, ex-Wellington, she is on the line to Radio New Zealand complaining that she will be receiving the Cost of Living Payment. Laura says although she does pay tax in New Zealand her income is in the UK and so, as she explains, Inland Revenue (IR) will not have access to that information.
Laura is honest, she doesn’t want to get money she is not entitled to – but more than that Laura is annoyed because she feels it is unfair that she now has the “administrative overhead” of having to contact IR and tell them to stop giving her money.
Laura has no concern that if IR had selected criteria based upon data they have available, and drawn a line at people like her based on that information, then people who are fully entitled to the payment might miss out on getting it if the thresholds were placed in such a way to avoid any possibility of inconvenience to Laura.
Laura is full entitled not to have that inconvenience, if there is one thing that is clear here, it is that Laura is fully entitled.
Realistically what else could Laura do?
I mean she could just give the money to charity, a good cause, buy a round at the pub, maybe give it to a beggar as she goes into a coffee shop like the ones back home.
But what would she have to complain about then? She should have been there back in the day when a decent cup of coffee in London, like you got back in Aotearoa, was as far fetched as well – someone complaining about free money.
And why should Laura stand by and not complain with the government undertaking this sort of thing:
Today, around 2 million New Zealanders will start to receive their first Cost of Living Payment.
If you are 18 or over, earning under $70,000 and aren't receiving the Winter Energy Payment, then you're eligible!
If this sounds like you, make sure to check that your details are up to date with IRD so you don't miss out on this temporary payment.
It is almost as if the people who come up with this support payment did not fully consider the potential plight of Laura – the thoughtless bastards.
Some Kiwis have done it tough overseas during the pandemic, unable to get home to spend time there - be it with family, or let’s be honest in many cases for a summer holiday to escape the dreary London weather, and some of them have had a lot to complain about, and have.
Don’t get me wrong there are situations with family kept apart from each other, events missed where there was genuine hardship – really tragic situations we all of course have sympathy for. Most Kiwis overseas will have taken that on the chin as something the team of five million back home, who choose to live there, had to do to limit the impact of the pandemic on Aotearoa.
But a lot also just seem to like having a whinge, and more than a few – hello Grounded Kiwis seem to be highly politically motivated and that their main purpose is to criticize the government.
Still none of them was having to put up with free money being given to them by that country where they don’t live or pay most of their tax – damned inconvenient!
I’m guessing, but I imagine, there is a high correlation between those who will complain about the NZ government giving them money and those who complained about the quarantine measures Aotearoa took to keep ourselves safe – including from them for a period of time.
There is one word for these people, for Laura dare I say it, that springs to mind and that word is – Brat.
Not the majority living overseas who were probably quite proud of their country, but the ones who found the need to go straight to opposition politicians or the media with complaints whether they were a lawyer in New York, a reporter in Afghanistan, or an IT consultant in London.
I feel sorry for the majority of New Zealanders who do not live here, who probably went about their business, shrugged at the inconvenience of any restrictions that impacted them and stoically got on with things much as the majority back here in Aotearoa. Why should they be represented by a small, complaining minority?
Today cost of living payments will begin going to two million New Zealanders who are eligible for them. No doubt some small percentage will be people that really didn’t need, or shouldn’t have been eligible for, that payment. But for the most part it will go to Kiwis trying to make ends meet and will be greatly needed and appreciated.
The thought that for the amount of money involved, $350 in total per person, the government should have put in place fail-safe systems to ensure any edge cases were excluded, so the opposition couldn’t embarrass them, or poor old Laura from London isn’t inconvenienced, makes no sense because:
That would cost a lot to implement, probably much more than it would save.
It would inevitably mean that some people would be excluded who did need the payment and they’d have to deal with IR to get what they actually need.
Fundamentally (nod to you know who) our choice in government is between a government-planned system with universal benefits and taxes targeted to pay for them versus low taxes and the government only getting involved where absolutely necessary as a targeted safety net.
Universal benefits or services are what makes a society, makes us feel like we’re all in this together. It is no accident that Margaret Thatcher famously said “there’s no such thing as society”, meaning only the individual matters.
Politically it is a no-brainer. People in the middle would rather contribute to and receive shared benefits, as they do with our health and education systems, than feel like they are paying a lot of tax for people that don’t contribute much to receive all the benefit.
I would rather see things like the basics of life, which certainly the Cost of Living is, sufficient housing, food, power, etc provided universally. With people still able to achieve plenty of success above and beyond that based on their efforts. We’re talking Socialism not Communism, despite the inability of people like Groundswell protesters to apparently tell the difference.
Listening this morning as I made the coffee made me wonder whether at some point we should suspend NZ citizenship to avoid administrative nightmares for poor hard working folks like Laura of London?
We can’t revoke citizenship, but should we put it on hold to avoid inconveniencing the team of one million who don’t live here with NZ things?
How about after living outside the country for more than five years we suspend citizenship? No more inconvenient free cash to take care of, no need to complain about delays to being allowed back to NZ during a world wide pandemic, no need to keep owning property being occupied by tenants paying the mortgage which you can use to fund your retirement with tax free Capital Gains in a country where you didn’t even pay income tax, and of course no need to vote.
That might seem harsh but the voices we hear from oversea, from London, from America are mainlyfrom people that are quite frankly a pain in the ass, and don’t seem to be particularly focused on the rest of our society. Think not what you can do for your country…
I’m not saying that is representative of anything like the majority of Kiwis living overseas many of whom are probably quite grateful for the actions the government took here to keep their family and friends safe, even if those actions caused some inconvenience by their nature.
But they are the voices we hear, the squeaky wheel the media and the opposition like to amplify. And it is bad enough listening to people here that are ungrateful without listening to someone who has been earning good money in London for eight years complaining at the inconvenience to her of some dollars she ought not to be eligible for being paid into her account.
So let’s have stand-down period, then folks can re-apply to be Kiwis when they want to live here, provided they can pass an eligibility character test of not being whining brats.
Probably just as well I’m not in charge really.
Hi Nick, clearly the brat has not told IRD that she is not a resident currently in NZ , and would have had to file a tax return in the last 2 years , also he rcomment that she could not see how to opt out of the payment was utter BS , you log onto My IRD and access your account and look for the dialogue box that says, opt out - tick this box - done !
A low-income member of my family is receiving this payment. He lives in NZ and he needs it and he's grateful. The people in that category far outnumber the whinging brats. But they don't feature on Morning Report.