Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I support the IRD's crackdown on student debt

Well, here’s some good news if you don't like the idea of people freeloading on other taxpayers - the IRD has finally started properly cracking down on people who don't want to pay back their student loans.

They have doubled the size of the team that chases Kiwis living overseas to pay the money back, they've got the debt collectors in Australia involved and when any of these people with debt over $1000 comes in, 100 percent of them can expect to hear from the IRD.

And - this is something I particularly like - if the debt is big enough and these people have shown they really don't want to pay their money back, then they don't get to leave the country again.

So if they come in for a holiday or to visit family- nope, they're stuck here because they owe us some money.

And it looks like this crackdown is starting to work, because 7000 names have been given to the debt collectors in Australia - and about 1000 of them are now paying back their debt.

I don’t have any sympathy for these people and the crack down that’s coming at them. Because we are talking about a lot of money  - about $2.2 billion. And as we know, this country's broke.

And these are not kids we’re talking about, these aren’t predominately 21-year-old graduates off an OE just forgetting to pay back their loans.

Most of the debt is owed by people in their 40s and 50s. Come on, you haven't paid your debt back in 40 years? By then - it's deliberate, isn't it?

These guys are the ultimate free-loaders. They get a nice education for free and then while the rest of us paid our money back and stayed to contribute to the country and pay taxes, they've taken that free education and skipped the joint and went and lived somewhere else and didn't pay that money back. 70 percent of them aren't paying anything at all.

If anybody should be paying up, it's these guys. And I'm very pleased to see the IRD is finally getting our money back so we can use it to build this place back up again.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, here's some good news. If you don't like the
idea of people free loading on other tax payers. The
ID has finally, it would appear, started cracking down properly
on people who don't want to pay back their student loans. Now,
what's happened is they've doubled this is the ID. They've
doubled the size of the team that chases Kiwi's living
overseas to pay the money back. They've got debt collectors

(00:20):
in Australia in and when any of these people with
a debt of more than one thousand dollars comes back
to New Zealand, one hundred percent of them, not twenty
five percent anymore, one hundred percent of them can expect
to hear from the ID. And it's but I particularly
like if the debt is big enough, and these people
are really showing they've got a habit of not wanting
to pay the money back, or they don't get to

(00:41):
leave the country again, so they might think they're coming
here for a little Hollybob, come to visit the family.
Get stuck now, aren't ye? Because you owe us some money.
It looks like this crackdown is actually starting to work,
because seven thousand names have been given to the debt
collectors a nussy and about a thousand of these dudes
starting to pay the money back already. Now. I do
not have any sympathy for these people whatsoever, and for
the crackdown they're about to experience, because we are talking

(01:03):
about a lot of money here, two point two billion
dollars that will go a hell of a long way
in this country right now, because we're broke. And these
are not kids that we're talking about, right These aren't
predominantly twenty one year old graduates, graduates just off onto
a little oe, just forgot, whoops, forgot to pay the
money back. Most of the debt is owed by people
in their forties and their fifties. I mean, come on,

(01:25):
you haven't paid your debt back for thirty years. That's deliberate,
isn't it. How many how many times you just whoops
forget to pay your money back? These guys, I reckon
are the ultimate and free loaders because they can't. They
live in New Zealand, they get a really nice little
education for free, and while the rest of us are
paying our money back, staying to contribute to the country,

(01:46):
paying our taxes. This lot with their little free education
to skip the joint and went and lived somewhere else,
paid the taxes to somebody else, didn't pay any of
the money back. Seventy percent of them living overseas are
not paying anything towards their loads. And if anybody to
their loans, and if any of anybody should be paying up,
it's actually not the people in the country who are
busy working and helping the country and paying their taxes back.

(02:08):
It's the freeloaders living overseas. Very pleased to see ideas
finally going to get our money back so we can
actually use it to build this place back up again
for us. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
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