Kiwisaver MkIII

Significant changes have been made for Kiwisaver MkIII, mooted yesterday as 'small changes' and being tacked onto a tax bill currently wending its tortuous path through Parliament.

Some of these changes do not appear small.

Suckers who sign on will now be able to take annuity instead of a lump sum, although the cost of delivering an annuity will be at the clients' expense in increased fees. I believe, part 2 of this step in the future, said annuity will become the compulsory vehicle for the state to deliver national superannuation, whilst getting the punter to pay for delivering same...

Another is the elimination of double dipping in Crown contributions. As most know, public servants and other minions in the growth industry called government bureaucracy have access to gold plated super schemes that the Crown also handsomely contributes to from my ever stretched tax dollar. Now, why remove the second Crown contribution to Kiwisaver? It would remove a major incentive for bureaucrats to join in the first place. A fair bet would be that all the current unionised mob would have been well advised by the PSA to get in early whilst double dipping was available, before this 'small' change cuts out new entrants.