John MacDonald: Why do families earning $200K-plus need govt. support?

Isn’t it funny how the Government likes to talk about government support needing to be based on need, but seems to forget about all that when it comes to those nice middle-class people.  

Of which I am one. I’m not claiming to be nice, but I am what you would call middle-class.  

Which makes me fully qualified to ask why a family bringing in $229,000 a year should get taxpayer support to pay for their kids’ early childhood education.  

It also makes me highly qualified to answer that question, and to say that a family earning that amount of money doesn’t need or deserve that level of taxpayer support.  

The Government has expanded its FamilyBoost scheme, which is all about letting parents claim back some of the money they pay early childhood centres. The Government’s done it because not as many people were taking advantage of the scheme as it had expected and which Finance Minister Nicola Willis had budgeted for.  

Before yesterday’s announcement, families earning up to $180,000 a year were eligible to claim back 25% of their early childhood fees.   

Now families earning as much as $229,000 will be able to claim back 40% of their early childhood fees and I find it impossible to see how that can be justified.  

Granted, I’m looking at this through the eyes of someone who had kids going through the early childhood system 15-to-20 years ago. I’m also looking at it through the eyes of someone in Canterbury as opposed to somewhere like Auckland.  

Nevertheless, I still don’t see why or how the Government thinks a couple earning that amount of money —way more than 200k a year— needs financial support.  

I saw some parents on the news last night at the centre in Wellington where Nicola Willis turned up to make the announcement yesterday, and they were all for it. But, of course they would be.  

I can say that because I know how, when you’ve got pre-school kids, you’re still getting over the hit it has on the finances.  

You might be down to one parent working – that’s if there are two of you. You’ve possibly got a decent-sized mortgage. Or you’re paying rent. So, of course, you’re going to think you need a leg-up wherever you can get it.  

But what parents of very young kids don’t tend to think about is that it doesn’t get any cheaper. In fact, it gets more expensive the older the kids get.  

Which brings me my other criticism of this expansion of the FamilyBoost scheme: what about the parents of older kids?  

What about the parents who have got kids at high school and have to come up with money for all sorts of things, such as uniforms, sports trips, music trips, laptops. You name it.  

Not that I’m saying that every parent with kids at the high school stage deserve the kind of carte-blanche handout the Government’s giving parents who have got kids going to pre-school.  

But it highlights further how expanding the FamilyBoost scheme just doesn’t make sense.  

And I think the opposition parties can be accused of tiptoeing around the issue. Especially Labour, which is banging on about the Government’s changes yesterday to the FamilyBoost programme being “desperate”.  

Megan Woods is Labour’s acting finance spokesperson and she’s saying today that the Government is scrambling to help families dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. 

She’s saying: "If Nicola Willis truly understood the cost-of-living crisis, then she'd have acted a long time ago."  

But what Megan Woods should be doing is ripping into the Government for thinking that families earning just on $230,000-a-year need government support to pay for their kids to go to pre-school.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Isn't it funny? Isn't it funny how the government likes
to talk about government support needing to be based on need,
but then seems to forget about all that when it
comes to those nice middle class people, of which I
am one. I'm not claiming to be nice, but I
am what you would call middle class, which I reckon

(00:34):
makes me fully qualified to ask a question why a
family bringing in two hundred and twenty nine thousand dollars
a year should get taxpayer support to pay for their
kid's early childhood education. It also makes me highly qualified
to answer that question and to say that a family
earning that amount of money doesn't need or deserve that

(00:57):
level of taxpayer support. So, as you probably know, the
government has expanded its Family Boost scheme, which is all
about leading parents claim back some of the money they
pay early childhood centers. And the Government's done it because
not as many people were taking advantage of the scheme
as it had expected at which Nicola Willis had budgeted for.

(01:18):
So before yesterday's announcement, the deal was families earning up
to one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year were
eligible to claim back twenty five percent of their early
childhood fees. As of yesterday, though, families earning as much
as two hundred and twenty nine thousand dollars can claim
back forty percent of their early childhood fees. And I

(01:42):
find it impossible. So I find it impossible to see
how that can be justified. Now. Granted, I'm looking at
this through the eyes of someone who had kids going
through the early childhood system what fifteen to twenty years ago.
I'm also a kind of disclaim as here. I'm also
looking at it through the eyes of someone in Canterbury

(02:03):
as opposed to someone living somewhere like Auckland, where it's
way more expensive to live. Nevertheless, I still don't see
why or how the government thinks a couple earning that
amount of money, way more than two hundred k year,
why they need support. I saw some you might have
seen this too. I saw some parents on the news

(02:24):
last night at the center in Wellington where Nichola Willis
turned up to make the announcement yesterday, and they were
all for it.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
I thought it was brilliant, but of course they would be.
And I can say this because I've been there and
done that, and when you've got preschool kids, you're still
getting over the hit the head it makes on the finances,
aren't you? You know you might be done to one
parent working. That's if there are two of you. You've
possibly had a decent sized mortgage or you're paying rent.

(02:51):
So of course you're going to think that you need
a leg up wherever you can get it. But what
parents of very young kids don't necessarily think about, then
they don't need to think about it. But what they
don't tend to think about is that it doesn't get
any cheaper having kids. In fact, it gets more expensive
the older the kids get, which brings me to another

(03:12):
stumbling block. And this expansion of the family boost scheme
or brings me to another criticism. I've gone, you know,
what about the parents of older kids? What about the
parents who've got kids at high school and have to
come up with money for all sorts of things uniforms,
sports trips, music trips, laptops, you name it. Not that
I'm saying, by the way, that every parent with kids

(03:33):
at the high school stage deserve the kind of car't
blanche hand out the governments giving parents who have got
kids going to pre school. But I think it highlights
how expanding the Family Boost scheme just doesn't make sense.
And look, I think the opposition parties can be accused
of tiptoeing around the issue, especially Labor. See Labor's banging

(03:54):
on today about the government's changes to the Family Boost
program being quote desperate. Megan Woods, she's Labour's acting finite
spokesperson and she's saying today that the government is scrambling
to help families dealing with the cost of living crisis.
Blah blah blah. She says, quote if Nikola Willis truly
understood the cost of living crisis, then she would have
acted a long time agoing a long time ago end

(04:15):
of quote, which is all very predictable stuff. When what
Megan Woods should be doing is she should be ripping
into the government for thinking that families earning just on
two hundred and thirty thousand dollars a year between them
need government support to pay for the kids to go
to press school. But of course, just like the government,
Labor doesn't want to brass off those nice middle class families.

(04:36):
They're going to do very nicely out of these changes
to the family boost scheme.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
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