If we’re not careful the poor will be showered with money from all directions. Here is one from today’s news:

Free food call for low-decile schools

But wait, there’s more:

Give parents ‘child payment’ – poverty report

All parents should receive a ‘child payment’ for the first five years of a child’s life, a new report says.

An expert advisory group on solutions to child poverty today released their report.

In it they call for a standardised measure for poverty and said New Zealand’s “unacceptably high” child poverty rate can be reduced.

However they do look at targeting and the proliferation of handouts:

The child payment recommended would be universal for the first five years of a child’s life and then targeted to those who most needed it.

It would be at its highest rate during infancy – around $125 – $150 a week – and then decrease as a child grew up.

It would replace the Family Tax Credit, Minimum Family Tax Credit, Parental Tax Credit and Childcare Allowance.

And it should also avoid the Breakfast In Schools allowance. Parents should have learnt how to feed their kids adequately by the time they go to school.