KEY POINTS:
KiwiSaver is likely to become compulsory if the sign-up rate so far is anything to go by, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne indicated yesterday.
KiwiSaver enrolment figures - 200,000 in the scheme's first three months of operation - reflected its wide appeal, the United Future leader told attendees at the annual New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants tax conference in Auckland.
"If take-up continues at this rate it might be easier to make the scheme compulsory, thereby removing the employer compliance costs associated with people opting out."
However, PricewaterhouseCoopers tax partner Brent Goldsack pointed out that people who had changed their jobs in August and September and wanted to opt out of the scheme might not yet have done so.
Goldsack said that 80 per cent (101,748) of people who had signed up to KiwiSaver had done it voluntarily by signing up through a provider.
Dunne said that past attempts at having a compulsory government superannuation scheme had failed because they took a top-down approach and Governments were telling people they had to join. However, if people were choosing to join KiwiSaver they were clearly doing it because they wanted to.
Dunne said his comments referred to his own views and were not reflective of Government policy at this stage. "However, I do not think this issue will be able to be ignored if KiwiSaver continues to be so successful."