Do you make ends meet?

[Toaster]

A competitor of my current employer has today offered a role with them which I will ponder over the next couple days.

It's basically the same role but the financial gain is very significant. Despite that, it would mean more time spent by having to travel into the city, more stress and most importantly less time at home for non-work stuff.

As I ponder the many pros and cons, I cast my mind to the fact that it is without a doubt getting harder to manage financially nowdays - to be able to increase ones net income beyond that of ones true costs. We all face increasing costs of living... mortgage interest rates, rent increases, petrol, milk, food, rates, power, etc etc all rocketing up this year and set to continue in 2008 (or at least likely to stay high in the case of interest rates).

So I thought I would run an anonymous poll... do you make "ends meet", are you ahead of the game or slipping further into debt or away from your financial goals.

Maybe it is time for a government to pass back the surplus benefits to the real workers - the taxpayers - instead of spending it on very fat government departments, filled to the brim with overpaid beauraucrats making more red tape and policy rather than offering better service to the public.

[Macktheknife]

I was with you all the way up to where you lost me with that fantasy stuff about government giving back money...
ends have met, and then usually parted again soon afterwards.
Does that count?

[Toaster]

I was with you all the way up to where you lost me with that fantasy stuff about government giving back money...

Yes well they do have a knack for taking our hard earned cash off us and telling us how we should live don't they - social engineering and control seem to be key.

It's a bit like half a Robin Hood - got the robbing bit down well, but keeps the loot instead!

[R6_kid:Me]

I'm making ends meet at the moment. But only because i live at home rent/board free. I am paying off money owed to my dad, and to a friend. I'm sure i could still afford my current life style if i lived out of home but i would need a second job bringing in at least $200 a week after tax.

In saying that i still spend a bit foolishly, but have realised recently when i have managed to save a lot of money by cutting down on a few things that I could a) be debt free, and b) have a better bike/whatever, had i not got myself into the hole in the first place and kept myself there for so long unneccesarily.

[homer]

just dont say you want a tax cut ....Why
Well if you want one maybe you ll get a few more dollars in the pocket you know 10 a week maybe 20

What the hell is 10 or 20 a week going to do
fill the bike for saturday

There needs to be something better than a tax break
you will never get a tax break like in japan

I say the tax rate should be 12 % at this point in time for everyone
and then you pay 12 % on what you buy
so if you spend your money you pay more, if not less .

Also you should pay income tax on a working week of 40 hours work
if you (have) to or choose to work more than 40 hrs you dont pay any tax on those hours
you have already worked 40 hrs thats you contribution .
if you work 80 hrs a week then 40 hrs is tax free

[Conquiztador]

Single dad with 4 boys. I making ends meet, and moving slowly forward. I have enuf to get some toys for me and the boys.

It is all down to what is important to you. Buy a big house with rooms you never use. Buy a Merc when a Toyota does the trick. Buy Champagne when NZ sparkly will do the same thing. And you have zilch at the end of the week.

Me, I cut costs where not needed: I rent, I drive an old car (and fix it my self), I dont buy crap I dont need. But I buy things I want to make me and my boys happy: Music, bikes, books, beers etc. Things I can enjoy now. What am I gonna do with expensive art, jewellery, things that I do not use? What do I need stuff for that I dont use, does not make me happy and I leave behind?

Get priorities right!

Oh and re the government: They are doing really well. The Working For Families is tops, Kiwi Saver is cool and the tax in NZ is far below any of many of the European countries you hold as a measure.

Learn to budget!!!

[Toaster]

I say the tax rate should be 12 % at this point in time for everyone
and then you pay 12 % on what you buy
so if you spend your money you pay more, if not less .

Agreed, flat taxes certainly better reward those that want to get ahead. Currently, the more you earn, the higher the marginal tax rate applied to those earnings - hardly an incentive to be a more productive member of society.

What the Govt carefully avoid in debate is the fact that a big cut in direct tax on incomes is actually gathered up via GST and RWT taxes anyway - you either spend or save - and both are taxed (excluding capital gains of shares or property of course).

[Drew]

Simple answer, no. Ends do not meet.

The tax break thing is bollucks, it'll never give you enough back. I own half of a small contracting business, and truely believe that business should pay the same tax a public. I theorise that if my business didn't have to pay %40 of EVERYTHING it makes, I could stack some cash aside for the slow times and take on a junior. I could pay said person fairly, and not be shitting myself about work slowing down the way it did a while back. The economy would win from this as much as I would by making a profit from it.

Pleaase consider this if a referendum ever comes around about business taxes. Because if you think businesses pay the taxes they're meant to now, you shouldn't be allowed to vote. Cut the tax, and enforce it, more will come in from that side too.

Also remember, YOU are the economy, it wins-you win.

[klyong82]

I say the tax rate should be 12 % at this point in time for everyone
and then you pay 12 % on what you buy
so if you spend your money you pay more, if not less .

Also you should pay income tax on a working week of 40 hours work
if you (have) to or choose to work more than 40 hrs you dont pay any tax on those hours
you have already worked 40 hrs thats you contribution .
if you work 80 hrs a week then 40 hrs is tax free

I like both the ideas you put forward. Why should those who decide to work harder get taxed more. Progressive tax system sucks. I started young investing and it has really paid off now...

[Ocean1]

just dont say you want a tax cut ....Why
Well if you want one maybe you ll get a few more dollars in the pocket you know 10 a week maybe 20

What the hell is 10 or 20 a week going to do
fill the bike for saturday

There needs to be something better than a tax break
you will never get a tax break like in japan

Why the fuck not? Who's money is it? Why isn't the fact that we're not happy with the amount that's being spent and what it's being spent on enough reason to change it. In fact the current tax structure is significantly higher than that which produces the best return for gubmint, it's pure vote buying fuelled by greed and sold by outright bullshit.

I say the tax rate should be 12 % at this point in time for everyone
and then you pay 12 % on what you buy
so if you spend your money you pay more, if not less .

Also you should pay income tax on a working week of 40 hours work
if you (have) to or choose to work more than 40 hrs you dont pay any tax on those hours
you have already worked 40 hrs thats you contribution .
if you work 80 hrs a week then 40 hrs is tax free

We already have a 12.5% tax on expenditure. And while I agree with the idea of giving people who work harder or longer a break it wouldn't work. How do you apply it to those not on an hourly rate?

Our houshold income is reasonably high but it's still difficult to actually save much. God knows how those famillies on $40K/pa manage let alone the ones with just the old man working on a minimum rate.

[jrandom]

I'm a single estranged father who pays full child support and sees his kids most weekends. Once the IRD takes its chunk and the mortgage payments on the 'investment property' up north come out of my income, I barely have enough left to cover my monthly spend on booze, bikes, guns and loose women, let alone to pay Grahameeboy his ridiculously reasonable rent on my rather nice room-plus-ensuite in Devonport.

Life's hard, eh?

To be honest, we whinge and moan about tax rates, oil prices and real estate inflation, but we're living in a time and place that makes us all much more comfortable than the vast majority of humanity throughout history.

I'm all about cultivating contentment, not dissatisfaction.

[Ghost_Bullet]

Money is a shitter, it is hard to get, and easy to see the back of it. Over the years, especially the early years of marriage, we were taking two steps forward and three back. Which was frustrating and stressful. As over the years, income has increased with change in responsiblities at work, it has made life easier, but still I think no mater how much you earn, unless disaplined it is easy to live beyound.

More money is not nessesarily a maker of better living, just depends on how ya approach it I guess.

It pays for me not to earn to much, as with a couple of children and fortnightly tax credits (money for doing nothing) earning more will mean I will earn less... in a sense. Of course that depends on how much more I was to earn.

[Ocean1]

I'm all about cultivating contentment, not dissatisfaction.

Is it possible that all the bleating has it's roots in a justified feeling of the majority being shafted?

Practice hard dude, I suspect before long you'll need to be capable of a profound peace in the face of a destitution that would have made your grandparents weep. I don't see our economic future being all that healthy.