GST % Increase

[Caryl]

Personally I think teachers are fairly paid but the teacher aides are definitely not! In some cases I know of personally the teacher has the aide doing the teachers' work but at the lower wages of an aide.

[supasi]

Personally I think teachers are fairly paid but the teacher aides are definitely not! In some cases I know of personally the teacher has the aide doing the teachers' work but at the lower wages of an aide.

I know of exactly the same thing. A family member is a teacher aid but does more than most teachers do for half the pay.

[acara]

I left NZ in '97,and was always amazed at how expensive things were in the UK,then when I moved to Ireland in 2000 I found things even more expensive here(and banking and the likes so stone age,more so than the UK),but at least Irish wages are better.I returned to NZ in '02,and found that the cost of living had gone up considerably,but the incomes weren't a hell of a lot more.Same thing on next trip home in '05.Last year I was back and was horrifeied at the cost of things.I'm so use to hearing about how Ireland is so expensive,but found many things(a silly example being a bottle of soft drink for example)to be more expensive in a NZ supermarket,than in a dairy in Dublin city centre.Has the average income gone up much in the last 10 years or so?

My parents and others were over for my wedding 3 months ago,and spent most of their time in the shops stocking up on clothes,they just couldnt get over how much cheaper such things are here.That surprised my friends and I,as we all head up North over the border to get UK prices.Or fly over to the UK,and of course buy online from the EU or the States.VAT(GST)here is 21%.Income tax is about the same.

We're thinking of returning home,wife is Irish,but I am worried about the cost of living in comparison to income.