The cost of Labour’s botched pay equity scheme

The Herald reports:

During her Budget presentation, Willis said that pay equity costs in 2020 were initially expected to reach $3.7b but there had since been a “blowout” with costs rising steeply, especially due to Labour’s 2022 decision to fund claims in the “funded sector”.

The exact figure isn’t known, but as they have announced a $12.8b reduction in the cost over the next four years, it is safe to assume the scheme Labour put in place claiming it would cost under $4 billion was looking to cost over $15 billion.

In the long run the annual cost to taxpayers could have been around $5 billion a year. To fund this would mean the top tax rate would have to go from 39% to 57%!