Income survey another 'kick in the guts'

The latest official income survey results are another ‘kick in the guts’ for low-income New Zealanders, says Labour Leader Phil Goff.

"Things are getting worse," Phil Goff said, commenting on the New Zealand Income Survey results for the June 2010 quarter, showing that median weekly income for all people from all sources decreased $9 to $529, compared to the June 2009 quarter.

"If those figures aren’t depressing enough, then National’s October 1 tax switch and 20 percent hike in GST really rub it in.

"The tax switch and subsequent price rises have left low and middle-income earners even worse off, while the wealthiest 10 percent have had huge boosts to their weekly earning," Phil Goff said.

"Petrol, electricity and food prices are all going up, while at the same time median income for all people from all sources is falling, and the median weekly wage and salary income increase of just 1.2 percent is the lowest rise for this measure since the June 1999 quarter."

Phil Goff said John Key and National came to power promising to close the income gap with Australia and that New Zealanders would be better off.

"John Key said there would be an aggressive recovery from the recession, but there are 160,000 unemployed, business confidence is falling, and most Zealand families, already struggling to make ends meet, are going backward not forward.

"The worst thing is that Kiwis can look forward to even more depressing news over the next year with latest forecasts that inflation will range from 4 to 5 percent.

"Recently I spent time with the Salvation Army who told me they are seeing more and more working families looking for help, because they simply can’t make ends meet," Phil Goff said.

"John Key now says things will get better in summer. That’s his latest economic plan. Low-income Kiwi families, who are up against it every time they go to the supermarket, will need a whole lot more than a bit of sun on their back to make them feel any better about what’s happening to them under this Government."