I find myself unable to get excited over the current job summit.
NewsTalk ZB's talkshow host was today bemoaning the fact that many of his callers (or was it texters and emailers) were negative over the whole thing.
Me, I'm not negative. Getting business people together to hash things out is never a bad thing. And it gives our PM a chance to give everyone a pep talk.
Yep, a call to national pride is certainly going to help.
However, yesterday there was talk of secondary earners (mostly women) taking the jobs of primary earners (mostly men) and how wrong that was. It got me thinking, because I certainly don't want to go back to the days when men got jobs ahead of women.
The Government could, in these tough, economic times, remove the need for the secondary earner to have to continue to take jobs from those who really need them by removing the current incentives. A flat tax rate would do it. Then it wouldn't matter whether the primary or the secondary earner got a second job or worked more hours at their current job - the incentive of the second job being taxed at a far lower rate would be removed.
I think what would happen then is a whole lot of women would quit work, thus removing the need for child care and all the associated extra costs that the Government pays for in order for Mrs X to go out and earn more dosh for the family on a lower tax rate.
Ah, for a Government that would be that smart and gritty!
Related Link: Key tells job summit: 'We are a gritty little country'
ZenTiger's take: The Summit of the Molehill
NewsTalk ZB's talkshow host was today bemoaning the fact that many of his callers (or was it texters and emailers) were negative over the whole thing.
Me, I'm not negative. Getting business people together to hash things out is never a bad thing. And it gives our PM a chance to give everyone a pep talk.
Prime Minister John Key told his job summit in Auckland today that New Zealand is not a country of whiners and slackers and had the right attitude to get through the global recession.
Yep, a call to national pride is certainly going to help.
However, yesterday there was talk of secondary earners (mostly women) taking the jobs of primary earners (mostly men) and how wrong that was. It got me thinking, because I certainly don't want to go back to the days when men got jobs ahead of women.
The Government could, in these tough, economic times, remove the need for the secondary earner to have to continue to take jobs from those who really need them by removing the current incentives. A flat tax rate would do it. Then it wouldn't matter whether the primary or the secondary earner got a second job or worked more hours at their current job - the incentive of the second job being taxed at a far lower rate would be removed.
I think what would happen then is a whole lot of women would quit work, thus removing the need for child care and all the associated extra costs that the Government pays for in order for Mrs X to go out and earn more dosh for the family on a lower tax rate.
Ah, for a Government that would be that smart and gritty!
Related Link: Key tells job summit: 'We are a gritty little country'
ZenTiger's take: The Summit of the Molehill
There are many reasons for a leaner and flatter tax system on payroll tax. This is one of them.
ReplyDelete"A flat tax rate would do it."
ReplyDeleteWhat! The more we work, the more we get to keep, it's like a dream come true. Don't tease me like that folks.
"Ah, for a Government that would be that smart and gritty!"
If only...