Mary Holm, writing in this morning's NZ Herald has a look at some of the criticisms being levelled at the proposed changes to Kiwisaver in National's tax package
The National Party's proposed changes to KiwiSaver would considerably reduce two of the biggest gripes about the scheme - that some people can't afford it and that it ties up savings.
They also show National is broadly supportive of KiwiSaver, allaying fears that the party would make it not worthwhile to join if it became the government.
True, the freezing of employer contributions at 2 per cent of pay from next April - rather than rising to 4 per cent by 2011 - would make KiwiSaver somewhat less attractive for employees.
But with the government kick-start, tax credits and other incentives unchanged, KiwiSaver would still be the best way for most employees to save.
The contributions of anyone earning less than $52,150 would be tripled by employer and government input. And that means three times bigger retirement savings.
For those on higher incomes, the numbers diminish a little. But someone earning $100,000 would still see their contributions boosted more than two and half times.
