Labour promise of overtime tax cut

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33033, 28 September 1972, Page 3

Labour promise of overtime tax cut

(Dew Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, September 27.

A better tax deal for shift workers and those on overtime was outlined by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) in an address to the printing workers.

He told the annual conference of the Printers’ Union that it was also the Labour Party’s objective to reduce the rates of taxation as the economy grew. “We are concerned that those who work overtime are being unfairly penalised,” he said. “We can’t see why a man who is prepared to work extended hours should be punished.” Mr Kirk said Labour would change the tax system so that the rate on overtime was never higher than a worker’s

average tax on his average i hours. “Many accept, too, that > shift work is necessary. But i it disrupts the families of workers. “We propose to reduce the i taxation burden on shift : workers with a 10 per cent i rebate,” he said. Asked by a delegate ■ whether the taxation moves were part of Labour’s elecl tion platform, Mr Kirk said: “They were buried in the ; issues over the last election.” Mr Kirk said Labour would

shift the burden of taxation back from the over-penalised family wage earner to the stronger shoulders that could stand it.

“AU the policies of the Government have increased the wage-earners’ tax burden,” he said. In the taxation reductions in this year’s Budget 8000 of New Zealand’s richest companies received tax rebates totalling s3om, while the married man with four children on $4OOO a year had to pay more. Mr Kirk also gave a hint of a rate relief scheme based on income levels that would assist pensioners and others on low fixed incomes and faced with heavy tax burdens. “We will be announcing our policy later in the year,” he said. “We also want to see sufficient finances in the hands of local bodies, so that facilities can continue to be established for the benefit of the community,” he said.