Women seen as tax-cut losers

Press, 15 October 1982, Page 16

Women seen as tax-cut losers

PA Whangarei The Government is deliberately cutting back opportunities for women through policies and economic trimmings designed to keep them in their homes, according to the member of Parliament for Mount Albert, Ms Helen Clark. Speaking in Whangarei, Ms Clark described recent tax reforms as “a transparent move to remove women from the work-force.” “Women make up 78 per cent of the part-time workforce,” she said. “They fall into the under $6OOO a year income group which will pay more tax under the new legislation. “A family where both parents work for low incomes will also pay more tax. The

message I receive from that is that women are supposed to stay at home. The tax code adjustments are outrageous.” Ms Clark said economic disincentives were combined with other restrictive measures such as a move to chop out the family planning grant. There were cuts in the education area which would also limit opportunities for women. The cutting of the Women's Advisory Committee on Education showed the Government did not want advice on women in that sector, she said. “Yet education is a key vehicle for changing expectations about community roles. Axe that and we have gone back to the dark ages.”