Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 10 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2031. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central)to the Minister of Finance: How would the Crown’s fiscal position be affected if ACC’s recommended reductions to its Work and Earners’ levies for 2015-16 were implemented?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):It is impossible to say because the ultimate result of taking a different decision on ACC levies would have to be weighed alongside the ultimate result of taking a different decision on school operational funding or the way that the Government deals with the funding of the Christchurch rebuild. What I can say is that for the 2015-16 year the Government reduced levies by around $180 million less than ACC recommended. In 2010 ACC recommended an increase to the motor vehicle levy of over $100 given the financial trouble left by the previous Government but we increased the motor vehicle levy by about half of that. So the Government has consistently taken a conservative view about both increases and decreases in ACC levies particularly given the volatility in interest rates and discount rates.Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This was a question on notice. It has a very specific numerical answer which the Government can easily access because Treasury provides these estimates all the time. The Minister has basically just got up and said that he will not answer the question even though there is a very clear and simple answer to the question.Mr SPEAKER: I do not accept the point the member is making. The Minister right at the start said it was impossible to give an answer because there are a number of other decisions that may flow. That is the answer that the Minister cares to give; it has addressed the question. I accept that the member may not be happy with it but I cannot insist on an answer that quantifies an amount if the Minister has said that it is impossible to do so.Grant Robertson: Was the then Minister for ACC Judith Collins correct when she said that the recommendation to cut workers and earners levies had been rejected by the Government “because we need to get to surplus. We believe the surplus is something that is very important … for … the Government”?Hon BILL ENGLISH: In the first place the member is wrong. He is implying that levies have not been cut. In fact they have been cut by $1.5 billion since we started reducing levies. In respect of the second issue every Minister believes that the decision that affects them is the one that makes all the difference to the surplus or the deficit. I get to hear this stuff every day and none of them are right. In the end Cabinet makes decisions that add up to a surplus or a deficit and no particular decision is determinative of the outcome.Grant Robertson: What advice did Treasury give him on whether ACC levies should be lowered to the extent that ACC recommended?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I have had 6 years of advice. I am not sure which bit the member is referring to. What I can tell him is that there are certainly examples where Cabinet has made a different decision from the one that all the officials have recommended and I have to say that over the 6 years Cabinet has been right and officials have been wrong.Grant Robertson: Will he commit to lowering levies for the ACC work and earner accounts in the Budget in May by the $350 million that he is currently overcharging New Zealand businesses and workers?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No I will not make that commitment. It would be rash and imprudent because—Grant Robertson: Oh ha ha!Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well it would be for this reason: the Government has yet to receive the valuation of ACC as at 31 December. The early indications are that that valuation will show levy reductions are significantly less possible than the member thinks.Grant Robertson: Is he saying that Treasury ACC the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and all the officials who have told the Government that it can lower ACC levies far more than it has are rash and imprudent or is it the truth that he is trying to prop up his measly surplus by ripping off Kiwis?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Whatever advice officials have given was going to be out of date as soon as that valuation turns up. As I have said Cabinet has ignored officials’ advice in the past for both large increases and large decreases. Through that time we have been able to reduce the burden of levies by $1.5 billion and I notice that the Labour Party members did not support any of that because they were so worried about the mess they had left ACC in which they did not want talked about.