Carter John: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Carter John: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:16313] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 Thank you for the challenge Madam Chair. Obviously though we still have the convention of being allowed a wide-ranging 30 seconds. Let me just start off because I would not want to do anything if we are setting records that actually changed them. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Fifteen seconds left! 
JOHN CARTER 
: No that is the start of the start. This debate is all about honesty. It is about credibility. It is about this Government actually being credible or not. The first thing we found is that this Minister asked National to put an amendment on the Table and show what we have got. So we asked him to tell the public that he has the right to veto and what did he do? He back-pedalled. 
Part 2 which we are debating here and which the National Party supports is all about tax rates and that sort of issue. What we need to know is whether there is credibility that this Minister and this Government are going to stick by the legislation. I remember being in here in 1989 when the past Labour Government came down to the House and said it had balanced the Budget—the first time for years. It said it had a $89 billion surplus and what did we find? We found there was a $1.5 billion deficit. 
We want to ask this Minister whether when we are considering these tables in Part 2 they are actually credible. Can the Minister confirm for us that the Government is going to stick by them because they are based on honesty and credibility? I wonder whether the Minister can confirm that point. Quite honestly I doubt it given Labour’s history. 
I also say this: we have been in this House for nine of Michael Cullen’s Budgets and this is the first time we have had the opportunity to have this debate—with one exception. We had a debate about the fact there were some promised tax cuts in 2005. I am sure the Chair may recall that. The fact is there was no bill unfortunately—unlike today where we have the schedules and the tables that we are debating. The fact is that a promise was made that was not kept and that is the very point that this debate is all about and why we have to have this bill. If anybody wants to ask why we have this legislation it is because it is making the Minister stand by what he told the House would happen in this budget. That is what this whole issue is about. 
I want to ask this question: if these tables are implemented as the bill says then what impact does it have on people who are struggling in areas such as local government rates?”. Will it actually help us in that regard at all? Will it help those people who are on fixed incomes? Will it help them meet the pressures that this Government has put on them in the way of increased bureaucracy in both central and local government? Will it mean that they will get some relief? I say that it will not. In fact if we have a look at the whole issue that is being debated right now none of it is actually going to help those sorts of people who have been struggling. The Government asked for and got an inquiry the Shand inquiry into local government rates and it has not responded to that at all. 
I ask the Minister in the chair the Hon Trevor Mallard what impact these tables and the debate we are having today will have on the income of those people who are on fixed incomes and how it will help them to address their rates. I bet that the Minister cannot answer that question because he knows what the answer will be. The answer is that it will have such a small impact that it will have no impact at all. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It’s not related to the rates in Part 2 of this bill. It’s different rates. This is about tax rates not rates for local authorities. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Yes I understand that but the question is whether this bill will have an impact on the people who are struggling. Will it have an impact on the people who are meeting constant demands from this Government because of increased bureaucracy? Will it have an impact on the people who are struggling because they have increased rates because of the pressure this Government has put on local government? The simple answer is—and the Minister does not have an answer to this—no it will not. It will not affect one diddly-squat the cost that local government is meeting. It will not affect one diddly-squat the people who are on a fixed income and who are struggling to meet their rates. I say to the Minister that it will not help them at all.