Wage subsidies cost guesstimate blows out from $5b to $12b

Fri, 27 Mar 2020

The government's 12 week wage subsidy scheme for all employers, including the self-employed, is proving so wildly popular that Finance Minister Grant Robertson says its total cost is now likely to be between $8 billion and $12 billion.When first announced on Tuesday last week, its estimated cost was $5.1 billion, but changes to the scheme since and high uptake have seen its anticipated cost explode.Among key changes was removing the $150,000 upper limit on payments that firms could receive.As of this morning, Robertson said some $2.7 billion in...

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