Minimum wage, benefit, ACC levy changes kick in
Super, Working for Families increases too.
Super, Working for Families increases too.
Changes to the minimum wage, benefits and ACC levies kick in today with the start of the new financial year.
The adult minimum wage increases by 50 cents to $15.75 an hour.
The minimum starting-out and training wage rates rises from $12.20 an hour to $12.60.ACC levies will fall by $139.2 million with a further $113.2 million reduction on 1 July. In total levies have been cut by $2.25 billion since 2008, finance minister Bill English says.
There has also been a slight increase in the minimum family tax credit (MFTC), which is paid to families earning up to $23,816.00 or less after tax to ensure a minimum family income of $458 a week after tax. The MFTC forms part of the Working for Families programme introduced by the Clark-Cullen Labour government.
Benefit rates lift by 1.1% and superannuation payments by 1.4%.
“A small increase in benefit rates this year comes on top of last year’s move to increase benefits to families with children by $25 a week, the first time in 43 years a government has lifted them," Mr English says.