Surcharge tax stays — Govt

Press, 24 April 1986, Page 19

Surcharge tax stays — Govt

Wellington reporter The Government has no plans to remove, or to reduce, the surcharge tax for national superannuitants before the next General Election. This was the response given by the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, to a series of questions in Parliament. The increase in allowable income limits announced last year would be the only change, he said. The Minister of Social Welfare, Mrs Hercus, declined to answer a question on whether as a matter of policy women

should be treated equally regardless of age and, if they should, how she reconciled this with Government policies that meant women aged 60 or over and with incomes above a certain level paid more tax and at a higher rate on the top dollar than women aged 60 or less who had the same total incomes. All Mrs Hercus would say was that all national superannuitants who had an income above a certain level were required to pay the tax surcharge on national superannuation, regardless of their sex.