Latest / Best of Business / Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Nicola Willis hinting towards KiwiSaver changes in Budget 2025

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Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Nicola Willis hinting towards KiwiSaver changes in Budget 2025 · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
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  Speaker 2: Now, Nichola Willis has been dropping the bread crumbs, hasn't
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  Speaker 2: she when it comes to the budget, confirming today she
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  Speaker 2: will be making some changes to Kiwi Saver, but wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: say any more generative trainee is The Herald's Wellington Business editor.
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  Speaker 1: Hey you, Nate, Hey, Heather.
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  Speaker 2: So it sounded like the opposite of what I was expecting.
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  Speaker 2: I was expecting that she was going to do some
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  Speaker 2: sort of means testing and actually take things away from
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  Speaker 2: us when it came to Kiwi Saver. But now it
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  Speaker 2: sounds like she's going to beef it up. What's going on?
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  Speaker 3: Well, no, I think you're right. I think Nikola Willis
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  Speaker 3: will means test that five hundred and twenty dollars contribution
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  Speaker 3: that the government gives you if you contribute a certain
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  Speaker 3: amount to your KEII saver every year. That costs the
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  Speaker 3: government about a billion dollars a year. It's a lot
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  Speaker 3: of money. I wouldn't be surprised if the government means
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  Speaker 3: tests that so that higher income earning people, perhaps people
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  Speaker 3: earn more than say one hundred and eighty thousand dollars
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  Speaker 3: a year so that they don't get that payment. I
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  Speaker 3: think she'll push on with that. This is just my guess,
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  Speaker 3: but but I did wonder because she she has said, look,
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  Speaker 3: we want to boost people's key we saver balances, you know,
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  Speaker 3: help them prepare for their retirements. So I thought, well, okay,
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  Speaker 3: you want to boost you want to boost those, So
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  Speaker 3: how do you do that. There are a few ways
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  Speaker 3: of doing that. Either we as members contribute more, our
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  Speaker 3: employers contribute more, or the government contributes more. I asked
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  Speaker 3: Simon Watts today, the Revenue Minister, whether the government would
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  Speaker 3: consider cutting the tax that employers pay on the contributions
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  Speaker 3: they make to our balances, and he said no, So
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  Speaker 3: that that was you know, if the government chose to
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  Speaker 3: cut that tax, that would have meant that can we
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  Speaker 3: save members would have more money in their balances, you know,
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  Speaker 3: which would help us in their retirements. I had wondered
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  Speaker 3: whether that would have been a way that they could
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  Speaker 3: have boosted our balances, but the Revenue Minister said no,
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  Speaker 3: I'm playing We're playing the rule and rule out game here.
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  Speaker 3: If they're not going to cut the tax, they're going
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  Speaker 3: to means test this contribution that the government makes, then
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  Speaker 3: then how on earth are our balance is going to rise?
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  Speaker 3: That only leaves us with some options, and that's basically
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  Speaker 3: us putting more money in.
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  Speaker 2: What about the possibility of them means testing cutting off
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  Speaker 2: the wealthiest people no government contribution, but then beefing up
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  Speaker 2: the government contribution for the poorer people.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, that's totally an option, and I haven't you know,
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  Speaker 3: I have played the rule in a rule with the government,
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  Speaker 3: but I haven't gone to that length. But that would
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  Speaker 3: make sense. You know, if you say your lower income
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  Speaker 3: you get a larger government contribution, or even you are
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  Speaker 3: self employed, which means you can't get an employer's contribution contribution,
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  Speaker 3: so then maybe the government gives you a larger contribution.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's clear the politics if you
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  Speaker 2: take it, we take away with one hand, give with
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  Speaker 2: the other. They're hardly going to compel people to put
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  Speaker 2: more of their own money, and are they in a
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  Speaker 2: cost of living crime, So so we can rule that out.
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  Speaker 3: No, you know, I wouldn't rule that out. I think, well, well,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we're guessing, but we desperately need to save
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  Speaker 3: more for our retirements in Australia, the contribution rate is
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  Speaker 3: much higher. I wouldn't be surprised if the government said,
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  Speaker 3: over time we're going to up that YAHI rate the
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  Speaker 3: minimum from three percent to four percent. Will it go
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  Speaker 3: down well with people? I'm not too sure, but I
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't I wouldn't rule it out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, over time, I think is the key thing, Jenna.
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  Speaker 2: As always, thank you so much, Jenae to Ttrainey, the
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  Speaker 2: Herald's Wellington Business editor.
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