Taxes

[oneofsix]

couple of things i think should go, are interest free student loans, although i think the interest free should be used as a carrot in certain professions, (country doctors and teachers, nurses as an example)

and i think that the super age needs to rise, prob to 68 to 70, i think people are living much longer now, and the 65 age is to low,

most benificary's are deserving and do not work the system, but some definatly do, we need to find some way to get people off the dpb and the sickness beneift when they are able to work,

The loans are only interest free whilst they are at uni and can't repay them anyhow. Bit harsh to charge interest whilst you are still basically taking out the loan. They need to prevent the students jumping the country when qualified until the loan is repaid. Can go in hols but no working for the benefit of offshore countries until you've paid the debt to the country that supported you through uni.

Disagree on raising the retirement age. I think they have this back to front. Retire out the old and tired, bring in the young at the bottom inside of supporting them on unemployment. Currently we are flogging the older workers to pay the unemployed and not training the replacements. Should instead take the lifecycle approach of retiring the old to make room for the young and reward the retired with their benefit, at least the old use their spare time to benefit their communities instead of vandalism.

Agree with you on the last quoted paragraph.

[superman]

couple of things i think should go, are interest free student loans

And overseas we go...

[scott411]

And overseas we go...

where else do you get interest free student loans?

it comes down to the same problem, to much expense, not enough income, somethings need to go,

the student loan free system does not encourage people to pay them off, and it is available for far to many courses that do not lead people into work, the amount of money spent would be better put into other area's

[NinjaNanna]

And overseas we go...

What you think you'll find a cheaper education as an International Student?

I'm all for legislation preventing NZ students leaving NZ or at least entering an agreement to continue repayments whilst employed overseas. Hey afterall you can't skip the country and not repay personal loans or mortgages, why should Student Loans be any different

[oneofsix]

where else do you get interest free student loans?

it comes down to the same problem, to much expense, not enough income, somethings need to go,

the student loan free system does not encourage people to pay them off, and it is available for far to many courses that do not lead people into work, the amount of money spent would be better put into other area's

don't need them in Aussie. Their wages are also higher and have been gain since we did away with union, they are still big on unions. Their economy has been doing better since then too. Wonder if there is a link.

[NinjaNanna]

don't need them in Aussie. Their wages are also higher and have been gain since we did away with union, they are still big on unions. Their economy has been doing better since then too. Wonder if there is a link.

Australia has HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme) which is essentially the same thing. Your HECS debt is indexed each year by the CPI.

[scott411]

don't need them in Aussie. Their wages are also higher and have been gain since we did away with union, they are still big on unions. Their economy has been doing better since then too. Wonder if there is a link.

correct aussie has a much better economy for a number of reason's, they export more than they import for one, i am not saying the unions do not have a say in it, but i think that they are only part of the chain, a long term right wing goverment might be a reason as well, also they did not deregulate as fast,

although outside of the mines i have a number of friends over there and they do not really earn more than similar jobs here,

[Ocean1]

perhaps the best way to break welfare dependancy is to introduce a system whereby the benefit decreases over time.

Pretty much how it works in most of the Scandanavian economies.

although outside of the mines i have a number of friends over there and they do not really earn more than similar jobs here,

Largely correct. If there's a difference in how they manage things it's that they support the industries that generate income. We've got a habit of supporting lost causes and penalising potentially high performance entities.

[SPman]

They should spend more on spelling and grammar lessons, so some of us could understand what the buggery you're all on about!

[scott411]

Pretty much how it works in most of the Scandanavian economies.



Largely correct. If there's a difference in how they manage things it's that they support the industries that generate income. We've got a habit of supporting lost causes and penalising potentially high performance entities.

agree with you there as well, i think they have a 4 year term goverment which ads a bit of certainty as well,

i also think there size helps, meaning economies of scales come into play as well,

[superman]

where else do you get interest free student loans?

it comes down to the same problem, to much expense, not enough income, somethings need to go,

the student loan free system does not encourage people to pay them off, and it is available for far to many courses that do not lead people into work, the amount of money spent would be better put into other area's

What you think you'll find a cheaper education as an International Student?

Even with interest free student loans the costs of university is around $6000 per year not including things such as text books/transport etc. Countries such as Switzerland/Denmark don't have interest free loans but they have much cheaper fees. Germany universities now charge 1000 euro enrolment charge per year, regardless whether the students are from EU or non-EU countries.

So $1900 NZD per year to study in a German university, or $6000 per year here? It's already a trade off for the worse, and if you add interest to that it would be even worse. Not to mention that if you tied people to staying in the country once they had the degree they'd have to spend even longer trying to pay it off on a crappy NZ wage. So instead of having people bugger off after getting degrees they'd bugger off before even getting them.

It should be much harder to get into university, so only top students who prove their effort can get in. Right now it's almost impossible to not gain uni entrance.

[scott411]

It should be much harder to get into university, so only top students who prove their effort can get in. Right now it's almost impossible to not gain uni entrance.

agree with you on this, i think the university students are not the real problem with the huge student loan bill we have, it is more the training programs. like flying schools, dive courses, and other "recreation type" activities that teach instructors, problem is with these courses is the fact that they teach more people than there ever is jobs, that is not the only example, but the problem with a lot of places is that they are a business, and they get bulk students through, with out outcomes that are benifical, i know there is reports into this at the moment as well.

[Bald Eagle]

agree with you on this, i think the university students are not the real problem with the huge student loan bill we have, it is more the training programs. like flying schools, dive courses, and other "recreation type" activities that teach instructors, problem is with these courses is the fact that they teach more people than there ever is jobs, that is not the only example, but the problem with a lot of places is that they are a business, and they get bulk students through, with out outcomes that are benifical, i know there is reports into this at the moment as well.

I wonder what the number of tertiary students per capita relationship is to overseas. Maybe we have too many universities creating "graduates" for the size of our population and economy.

Found this link govt expenditure per student as a % of GDP.

[superman]

agree with you on this, i think the university students are not the real problem with the huge student loan bill we have, it is more the training programs. like flying schools, dive courses, and other "recreation type" activities that teach instructors, problem is with these courses is the fact that they teach more people than there ever is jobs, that is not the only example, but the problem with a lot of places is that they are a business, and they get bulk students through, with out outcomes that are benifical, i know there is reports into this at the moment as well.

Exactly right, this is why the country could afford free university education a few decades ago. It was tough to get into uni, and if you didn't get into uni you'd become a useful tradesman. The process to become a pilot was utter dedication, helping out at airfields for hours just for a chance to go up, and if it really was something that motivated you, you'd do anything to get there. So many students nowadays (not that I have much history in my life...) just do things because they can... and then they won't really do anything useful for society. There's not many with a passionate drive for what they're doing and they just dawdle along a course doing what they're told.

[NinjaNanna]

So far not to many response in regards to what we should go without?

Here some:

Inorganic day for every household in Auckland. Hire a skip and get rid of it yourself
Funding for sports and the arts: get rid of it all together until the economy has recovered
Public libraries: close them down and have one in each centre, ffs who actual goes to them anymore.
Street Lighting: dim it or turn it off after 11pm

Personally I can't think of any that are Nationally funded because I haven't had enough to do with the system.