A Facebook post on my town's local group today from someone who receives a benefit noted that there hasn't been an increase to the accommodation supplement or temporary additional support cap in the region for 8 years. Eight years! During this time house prices have more than doubled with rent following swiftly behind. The poster said she had written to the local MP and suggested others who are struggling do the same. These caps are pretty arbitrary and vary between regions, it makes sense that they be adjusted from time to time particularly when a formerly down on it's luck town is booming and becoming a dormitory suburb to a major city.
Is it also possible for you to get a job? suggests Kevin*. Kevin is only trying to be helpful. Kevin thinks perhaps the poster simply hadn't realised that this was a way of obtaining money. Kevin has a job. Kevin pays tax and therefore the poster better sit down while he explains how he works hard and his money shouldn't be used for her benefit. Kevin is tired of his money being used in this way. Kevin doesn't know the poster or her situation but is supremely confident in his assessment. Kevin has never once received the medal or heartfelt thanks he feels he deserves for his philanthropic efforts.
Why are taxpayers such fucking gits? No not all taxpayers, obviously, but definitely the ones that refer to themselves as "taxpayers" (see also "ratepayers") #notalltaxpayers.
We ALL pay tax Kevin, you're not the victim here, it's not something you can easily opt out of... but if you are wealthy enough you can fiddle around the edges and get creative with your accounting.
While you may not be stoked because it feels like you, personally, Kevin are solely financially responsible for every single mother, single father, unsupported youth, caregiver unable to work, mentally/chronically/terminally ill freeloader, or person who suddenly found themselves out of a job in town; I'm not stoked that my hard earned tax money is subsidising a few things either.
A completely not comprehensive lists of personal things that make me want to sharpen up my comment section finger:
Tax breaks for oil and gas conglomerates.
Royal family visits.
Cleaning up state houses where meth was consumed as if they were meth labs at the behest of naught but political hyperbole and a scam industry.
Alcohol culture fallout.
Putting expensive new roads through pristine forests to save 4 minutes on a journey.
Paying to store rubbish safely in the ground for generations instead of making manufacturers responsible for their products end of life.
Paying to clean up coal mines so they can be flogged off cheaply.
Decommissioning oil rigs so companies can walk away from their contractual obligations.
Income tax exemptions for businesses owned by religious groups.
The fact that this sort of business practice is common and encouraged by banks and accountants because tax is so demonised.
Cleaning up the externslised costs of high intensity dairy production.
Prosecuting people for growing, using, or selling a plant that is increasingly being legalised worldwide and used for legitimate medical needs.
Paying for ambulances at the bottom of cliffs and high social outcome flow on costs instead of putting money into meaningful action on child poverty.
And I am So SO not OK with running free High speed Internet direct to Kevin's door so that he can spew his anti-beneficiary logic all over the internet even faster.
But the thing is I live in New Zealand and, though my heart be heavy with anarchist longings, I'm part of this system. I have to accept that this is the system we have, and despite the fact that it's not perfect, I'm generally happy here. Tax is a reality.
I'm more than happy if a single parent can afford to live in a stable home near a school so their kids have consistency. I'm super happy that Kevin's probably a drug addict neighbour has enough money to afford a room in a flat and there's a link to his community and enough self esteem intact for when he needs to come back. I'm so relieved that the older woman with the chronic illness that just scrapes by each week has just enough leftover to buy her grandkids a bag of lollies when she sees them and a present for their birthdays and Christmas and feels like she matters. I'm grateful that if something goes wrong for Kevin and his job falls through in a changing world or someone he loves needs help there is a safety net waiting for them. None of this diminishes my world or lessens my personal standard of living.
If you are only concerned about how the government spends money when it's going to improve the lives of people you feel that you are better than it's time to take a hard look in the mirror Kevin.
Until there comes a time when we get presented with a menu of things we want to contribute towards and are barred from using anything else, I'll just have to lump how my tax dollars are spent. Sorry Sir, this shop carries imported goods and is only for people who elected to pay the "negotiate trade deal" portion of their tax. Ma'am I'm here to disconnect your internet because you haven't paid your connectivity infrastructure tax. Thought you could dodge the unexpected injury tax did you? Gtfo of my hospital.
Or, like the entirely reasonable Facebook post I mentioned suggests, I can write to my MP. Kevin can too if he feels that strongly that our town should be unaffordable for a huge swath of it's inhabitants (and it's not just beneficiaries that receive the accommodation supplement, many are already in full time employment). But something tells me that he won't. Rather than pen that passionate letter about how people who live in his small town shouldn't be there he'll be happy to sit at home and stick the boot in. That way anyone struggling knows how much of a superior upstanding citizen and philanthropist Kevin really is.
*not his real name. Sincere apologies to all the good Kevins of the world.
Update: Kevin at last has some support. Stuart* has joined the fray inspired by Kevin's pertinent advice. Stuart* is a true poet so I'll share his wisdom. **CW likening receiving a benefit to sexual assault.**
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"I rent I pay it end a story lol can't just keep rapeing the taxpayer cause your hopeless with your money oh winz will pay lol what a joke" (sic...obviously)
I try really hard not to be pedantic about spelling and grammar because snobbery is gross and I don't think it matters so I'll leave that aside and focus on the sentiment.
The Kevins and Stuarts of the world are comfortable enough to put their real names to their feelings and air them in the town Facebook group, the modern day equivalent of heading down to the town sqaure and shouting them then leaving a written transcript pinned to ye olde bulletin board in case anyone missed it.
Stuart goes on to say that benefits should be abolished and in the next sentence (although without punctuation so it's really the same sentence) says they should be kept for the people who need them. This is what decades of political point scoring does.
People can recognise that in theory at least there is a need for a safety net and that some people genuinely cannot work. However they also feel empowered to write off these people as lazy, hopeless, bludgers and feel qualified to make this call publicly without knowing (or having any right to know) their circumstances. We've dehumanised the most vulnerable among us.
I had really hoped that the covid uncertainty and lay-offs would increase awareness about the realities of life on a benefit, the inhumanity that winz can demonstrate at times, and generally increases compassion. That doesn't seem to have happened. A special VIP benefit was rolled out for people who became jobless due to covid, spousal earning caps for these people were all but cut, and people quickly forgot the old adage there but for the grace of god go I.
If you find yourself thinking something about beneficiaries, I know that I know many people who have these feelings, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Or at least please keep this to yourself. Telling people you think that they deserve to starve and be homeless is super unnecessary. This isn't and should never be an issue of politics. We can remove policy from the human beings involved and retain our compassion.
*also not his real name although why I'm protecting the privacy of these men who for two straight days have shat all over this woman and everyone else doing it tough, again in a town where house prices have more than doubled, I have no idea.