As part of the Dominion Post's Budget 2009 reporting, the paper included the opinions of a "cross-section of Wellingtons" on what they wanted in the budget and their reactions to what they got.
What I found really interesting was that none of the cross-section Wellingtonians were married with kids, where the wife stayed home and looked after the kids while the husband went to work. This missing demographic typically earns more than the average and pays a disproportionate amount of tax, so would have been hoping for some form of tax relief.
The other thing that really stood out was the "annual income" given for each person or couple. Nowhere was it mentioned how this income was achieved, nor was the amount of tax paid mentioned either. For instance, the solo mum on $60,000 + WFF + child support may not be paying any tax whatsoever, and therefore might quite easily be doing very well, thank you very much. Her hope was that "tax cuts remain in the pipeline". If she wasn't paying any tax, this would have been very useful to know - as those who pay none to very little tax typically don't want tax to be cut. Especially since other people's tax allows them to live the way they do.
So, why did the Dom Post miss out the traditional family? Maybe we are a dying breed, and most people do forget about us. Most except the IRD.
What I found really interesting was that none of the cross-section Wellingtonians were married with kids, where the wife stayed home and looked after the kids while the husband went to work. This missing demographic typically earns more than the average and pays a disproportionate amount of tax, so would have been hoping for some form of tax relief.
The other thing that really stood out was the "annual income" given for each person or couple. Nowhere was it mentioned how this income was achieved, nor was the amount of tax paid mentioned either. For instance, the solo mum on $60,000 + WFF + child support may not be paying any tax whatsoever, and therefore might quite easily be doing very well, thank you very much. Her hope was that "tax cuts remain in the pipeline". If she wasn't paying any tax, this would have been very useful to know - as those who pay none to very little tax typically don't want tax to be cut. Especially since other people's tax allows them to live the way they do.
So, why did the Dom Post miss out the traditional family? Maybe we are a dying breed, and most people do forget about us. Most except the IRD.
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