The baby bonus is hot topic at the moment. Should it be scrapped? Should it be means tested? Should it remain? My thoughts:
If it’s scrapped, that’s pretty harsh. I’m sure first time parents, have a loss of income and do need some financial assistance. Obviously you should be planning for this before having a baby, but still, I’m sure the cost outweighs what you plan for.
Two, if it’s means tested, does that really change anything? It prevents rich people from receiving it, but are rich / career focused people having 5 kids on average? I doubt it. And does it prevent people having babies to get the bonus for a new plasma tv? No.
I think it should remain in place, but only for a family’s first child (point being that most baby items are handed down, other than food and nappies). This solves the means-tested problem, but everyone is entitled to it, as they all have to take the time off work, and it’s supposed to ease the burden associated with having a baby.If you wanted to really tighten up, then you could say it’s means tested, and it’s still limited to the first baby. That would probably solve all the issues.
Anyone have a better suggestion?
mlambie said,
March 14, 2008 @ 9:52 am
I like the idea of it remaining for the first child only, kinda like the first-home-owner’s grant.
Hale said,
March 14, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
It could also be phased out eg. bonus for the 1st kid, half bonus for the 2nd kid, no bonus for 3rd. This would in theory prevent people having extra kids for the money.
In practice, I know of a particular girl who has had 5 kids aged 6 or under, and she is 21. She just doesn’t use contraception or her brain, and all the bonus has done is get her a bigger TV every year.
Another option is tax credits eg. if you have four kids you don’t have to pay income tax until the youngest is in school, or maybe your income tax payment gets divided by the number of kids you have. The means people who work get help with the costs of a kid and dole bludgers get nothing.
daniel said,
April 16, 2008 @ 9:13 am
In regards to the baby bonus it is somewhat menas tested as Megs and i didnt receive the full amount.
I agree with you totally on planning before having the baby, and not using the money to buy a plasma etc although it is tempting. We managed to plan our budget spot to not have to rely on a one time payment to get us through which i believe if anybody actually does would be pretty silly.
We were fortunate not to need to buy all the baby gear with the bonus as we were organised enough to have bought it before georgia came along and received a lot of baby stuff at our baby shower and from relatives. Of course there is always the ongoing cost of nappies and formula but we have switched to fabric nappies but we can no longer breastfeed so formula is an unavoidable cost.
Perhaps the money could be issued in the form of vouchers which could be used at coles/woolworths and/or baby stores.
On a side note we have put our baby bonus away in an account for georgia. She can use the money when she gets older to buy her first car or travel overseas.
peace out
daniel said,
April 16, 2008 @ 10:41 am
oops i meant means not menas. perhaps i should’ve spent the baby bonus on english lessons.