Those who think paying income tax all your working life entitles you to an old age pension for the rest of your days, think again.

The reality is most tax you pay today has already been spent. Yesterday. Hence, the $60 billion sovereign debt.

We either need to change our thinking about retirement entitlements, or there's far too many ‘working-age people' pulling a pension before their time.

A little under 300,000 working-age people still receive one benefit or another in this country. Every week. It's these people robbing elder folk of their hard-earned retirement benefits.

So, how can we get non-working, working-age people off the benefit and into paying work?

We can discourage taxpayer-funded cellar dwellers from adding, (breeding), to the problem. Loans, not benefits, perhaps?

We can introduce limits on ‘job seeker' benefits. Limited to what you put into the system in the first place, before you can pull it out.

Or, one year's actual work equals a maximum one month's benefit. it's been done in parts of Europe.

Or relate it to their ‘continuing further education and training' in order for them to continue to be a beneficiary. The theory being somewhere along the line all extra education will lead to a job. Won't it? I wont hold my breathe.

Graeme Martin, Otumoetai.