David
PARKER
Spokesperson for Finance
1 July 2014 MEDIA STATEMENT
KiwiSaver’s 7th birthday something to be proud of
“KiwiSaver celebrates its seventh birthday today with 2.3 million people now enrolled, making it the most popular
retirement saving scheme in New Zealand history, Labour’s Finance spokesperson David Parker says.
“KiwiSaver is yet another forward-thinking Labour policy that National vociferously opposed at the time but now supports
through gritted teeth.
“On a day when there’s something to celebrate it’s sad National has to resort to myth-making and scare tactics regarding
Labour’s capital gains tax (CGT) and KiwiSaver.
“Labour’s CGT will not increase the level of taxation on incomes derived from KiwiSaver or other retirement savings
schemes.
“In fact, it is National that is guilty of increasing taxes on KiwiSaver. It slashed the member tax credit in half and
imposed a tax on employer contributions.
“Rather than petty tinkering, Labour will build on our past successes by incrementally upping employer and employee
contributions to a total of 9 per cent. We will also extend the KiwiSaver member tax credit and KickStart payment to
virtually all employees by introducing universal KiwiSaver.
“All National can do is reheat old policies and pretend they are new.
“Labour is the party of innovative and fresh ideas that will help all New Zealanders get ahead,” David Parker says.