Monday 9 August 2010

Welfare “reform” that socks employers

Lindsay Mitchell comments on the government's latest welfare-reform that isn’t.

_Quote I see that the welfare working group is preferring to focus on promoting insurance for sickness and disability.
Paula Rebstock has prioritised this for the media since the group was created.

    “Employers may be asked to pay part of the costs if their employees have to go on sickness or disability welfare benefits under an insurance-based reform of the welfare system flagged in a new report today.”

    Insurance is fine. But employers can't be expected to stump up for sickness insurance and pay tax for the state-provided sickness benefit as well (not to mention ACC). Or are we looking at another of the National private/public partnership ideas?
    I can hear struggling employers all over NZ groan as they read this latest bright idea which essentially tells them the government is going to punish them if their employees get sick.

Welfare “reform” that socks employers.  That should help them recover.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

isn't that what taxation is doing anyway? So you create a new fee or tax for the productive to support the non-productive. This one is being packaged to protect the employee, with the illogical nature of it beingthat it still has to be paid for by someone, and will ultimately make up part of the wages bill, thus reducing the amount available for actual take home wages for productive employees.
tax, tax, tax, and confiscate.... was it labour/ greens we voted in at the last election?