SOCIAL SECURITY TAX

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 June 1939, Page 5

SOCIAL SECURITY TAX

AN APPARENTLY UNJUST ANOMALY. LEVY ON SEPARATION ALLOWANCES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 15. Women, separated from their husbands, who receive maintenance under separation agreements or court orders for themselves or for themselves and their children, are compelled under the Social Security Act to pay Social Security charges thereon. Such charges are retrospective over the last year at the rate of Is in £l, their maintenance being treated as income other than salary or wages.

In an instance brought to notice, a woman received £5O in the last year from her husband for the support of herself and two children. She has been obliged to declare this amount as income, and to pay £2 10s thereon, representing the Social Security charge. Social workers in touch with the situation state that there are large numbers of similar cases where the impost presses cruelly on those concerned. “In such instances the husband has already suffered the charge on his wages, and, if he were living with his wife, no further deductions would be made on amounts expended on the maintenance of his wife and children,” said a social worker.