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this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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IRD does it great. You can message them through your account, and upload supporting documents to submit at the same time. Many other government agencies allow upload of documents. It's not like it isn't a solved problem.
As I understand it WINZ have recently started a massive project to replace their major legacy system, so I hope they redo their online stuff to make it more customer friendly.
I forgot about that part. WINZ basically forces your partner to look after you, without regard for how you're managing your finances. WINZ needs a full overhaul.
On the messaging thing, basically IRD has way, way, WAY less services and often MSD needs a bunch of info to do anything. So they try to steer everyone into forms that in theory elicit all the information. Doesn't work, but also they definitely don't have the resources to have involved email conversations with everyone. They can't even answer their phones and unlike with taxes people can't wait 2-6 weeks for a response.
Would be really nice if they could though.
Yeah, this is why I'd prefer a UBI. It solves or reduces most of these issues.
I agree UBI would be nice and then WINZ could just provide extra help for people who want to work but have no idea how to present themselves, or who have other complicated problems (like needing a no interest loan to escape a bad living situation, hardship grants, stuff like that).
I don't understand how a UBI wouldn't just cause inflation.
In my imagined version, you adjust tax brackets so people keep approx the same take home pay, and people on benefits/super receive approx the same amount.
Unfortunately with a major overhaul of policy where you give out free money but no one is better off, well you can't really sell it politically, so I can't see it ever happening. But that would be my ideal implementation for a starting point.
Thanks for the explanation, that kind of makes more sense than just giving everyone the same amount.
So I'd pick a baseline, probably the NZ super single person payment, then make this the amount for everyone.
Then adjust the lower tax bracket so everyone working and earning over that threshold ($14k) would pay slightly more in tax, about the same as the new payment.
Then get rid of all benefits and superannuation (but keep the other assistance payments like accommodation supplement, disability allowance, etc).
This does leave some people slightly better off, but it shouldn't cause more inflation than any other election bribe.
It then gives you a starting point to e.g. raise the UBI towards the living wage equivalent, make some supplementary payments standard and give them to everyone, etc.
Details would need to be worked through by a policy team, but at a high level I think this would be a big benefit to the country.
Makes sense. NZ super single is about twice core benefit. That would pretty much lift everyone out of poverty super fast.
Our gini coefficient would shrink and our entire society would get the bonuses to health and economy that go along with that.
Right, I want to vote for you at the next election.
Haha it may make sense but it's not a vote winner. Your average voter will think spending hundreds of millions on WINZ reform just to make it more complex (now we need a bank account from everyone in the country so they can be paid from two sources) is not a good idea, and the right will for sure be telling people no one will work and the economy will collapse even though trials overseas have not had this effect.
True, true. I think we spend millions on pointless cosmetic winz remodels pretty much every time we get a new govt, but people never notice.