NATIONAL PENSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 101, 2 May 1938, Page 6

NATIONAL PENSIONS.

CASE FOR PRIVATE FUNDS.

(To the Editor.)

There is general disappointment over the so-called "national" superannuation proposals a* outlined in the Prime Minister'* recent broadcast. The committee, actuaries and Parliament may, of course, drastically amend them, but, as it stands, it is merely an extension of the present old age pension scheme, with larger allowances at an earlier «/re. Any superannuation legislation based on reasonable justice to all taxpayer*, irrespective of their financial situation, at the age of 60 would assure anv Government a long lease of office —and such legislation would stay m the Statute Book indefinitely. There are vanoua 'opinions about the guaranteed price, marketing etc That class of legislation, however, can' be amended or repealed without—perhaps —serious economic disturbance. Xot so any adopted system of national superannuation. A.II existing Departmental and private superannuation schemes are "the outcome of careful preparation by actuaries, and amendments— if anv—are never made if the basic financial soundness is affected. The contribution* are subsidised, and both parties to the arrangement faithfully carry out their contract. And this confidence, combined with good management, is the reason why the leading Mβ assurance office* weathered fo well the recent depression. Superannuation is merely an annuity, and a life policy is a "sheetanchor to windward" for widows and dependents. I know of executives who pay -in premiums 20 or 2o per cent of their salaries —and over and above all these commitments the Government proposes to collect 5 i>er cent of all gross ("gross" Iβ italicised) incomes for the misnamed national fund. Also when these officers become superannuitants the tax will still be collected. The foregoing remarks al*-» applv to fire insurance offices, banks, public bodies, shipping companies and the leading newspapers of the Dominion, who have established superannuation benefits for their employees and are liberally subsidising contributions. Here we see private enterprise at its beet. These institutions are not antisocial. They are pulling their weight, and a wise Government will not harass them by adding an additional 5 per cent tax to the present load on employers and employees alike. The majority of workers, work they never so weli, v.-.r.not. by insurance or otherwise, provide for annuities at sixty. It is a perplexing problem for any Government, but the man who can evolve any scheme of social security that is founded as nearly as possible on absolute justice to all will rank as one of the world's outstanding statesmen. The proposals so far sketched are. it must be admitted, tinged with altruism—but it is compulsory altruism, and we are not_ yet spiritually equipped to accept it.