Rates Rebates Go Unclaimed
17 January 2006

Too many people on lower incomes aren’t applying for the rates rebate assistance they’re entitled to, says Age Concern New Zealand.

“Many couples on national superannuation are eligible for helpful rebates,” Age Concern New Zealand’s chief executive Ann Martin says.

However, uptake figures from round the country suggest as little as a third of the people eligible to get some of their local authority rates back are doing it.

“Last year the income ‘threshold’ was raised from a derisory $7400 to $20,000, which was very welcome,” explains Ann Martin.

“Unfortunately, this has led to a common misconception that rebates aren’t available to people who earn more than $20,000. This would exclude married or Civil Union couples on national super.

“This is dead wrong: a typical couple on national super should get the full $500 rebate, based on Internal Affairs figures” says Age Concern. This assumes they’re on the couple rate of $24,456.64 and pay at least $1,745.62 in rates (the national average is $1820 per year).”

However, Age Concern warn that just a little extra income can bring heavy losses.

“If the same couple increased their income by just $4000, for example with a part-time job, they could reduce their rebate to just 80c.”

“On the other hand if they’re paying, say, $4000 in rates, they can earn over $36,000 and still keep their rebate. Dependents push the income ceiling even higher.”

Although they say the rebate is still worth trying for, there are other fish-hooks that Age Concern want fixed.

The maximum rebate is $500 – Age Concern says this is welcome but could be a drop in the bucket when some older people are faced with $4000 rates bills.

It also doesn’t cover local authority water charges or other charges if these are separate from rates.

The form filling process also requires collecting a lot of financial information together and the application has to be signed in front of “an authorised person”. This can be difficult for housebound people, says Age Concern.

“Although assistance for older people struggling to pay rates from fixed incomes is welcome, the real solution is to get rates rises under control,” Ann Martin warns.

ENDS

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