4. Question No. 4—FinanceHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 4—Finance4. Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour) to the Minister of Finance: My question—I'll just give the member a breather for a moment—to the Minister of Finance: Does she stand by the commitment in the coalition agreement with ACT to restore mortgage interest deductibility for rental properties with a 60 percent deduction in 2023/24 80 percent in 2024/25 and 100 percent in 2025/26"; if so what is the estimated cost to the Crown of this commitment?Hon NICOLA WILLIS (Minister of Finance): To the first part of the question I can confirm to the member that that is indeed the wording in the coalition agreement and that the Government intends to keep its coalition commitments. To the second part Cabinet has yet to consider the details of this policy and its implementation so the member will have to wait until it is announced. Hon Grant Robertson: Can she confirm that she has had advice that the cost of adding retrospectivity to the change to interest deductibility is close to $1 billion?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: I can confirm that I have had advice on this issue and I can confirm that discussions have not yet been had by Cabinet and I will not be getting ahead of those discussions.Hon Grant Robertson: Can the Minister confirm to the House that adding retrospectivity to the interest deductibility changes will increase the costs to the Crown?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: I can see that the member is getting excited because taxpayers might be getting something back from the Government! He should really wait and see when the policy is announced.Hon Grant Robertson: Is she concerned about the precedent that would be set by giving retrospective tax cuts that have been described by tax experts as "highly unorthodox" and "really very unusual"?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: Mr Speaker let me tell you about the precedent I'm excited about. I'm excited about the precedent of tax reduction for the first time in 14 years. The member opposite had six opportunities to do it and he couldn't bring himself to let New Zealanders keep more of their own money—and this Government will. Hon Grant Robertson: Point of order then Mr Speaker. So I understand that the word "precedent" was in the question but it was the precedent of retrospective tax cuts. The member didn't even go close to addressing that. SPEAKER: Well OK. Let's do it again.Hon Grant Robertson: The whole thing?SPEAKER: No no.Hon NICOLA WILLIS: I think what the member is inquiring about is the precedent that would be set by a form of tax reduction. I would refer that—Hon Members: Answer the question!Hon NICOLA WILLIS: Can I just advise members opposite: if they want an answer I'm very prepared to speak if they're prepared to listen. [Interruption]SPEAKER: That's enough.Hon NICOLA WILLIS: As I answered in answer to the primary question the details of the application of this policy are yet to be considered by Cabinet. When it comes to precedent on tax policy matters we are a Government that will be very happy to be setting a precedent of letting New Zealanders keep more of their own money.Hon Grant Robertson: Why is it a priority to give tax cuts to landlords at a time when there is legislation going through the House today that will cut the incomes of the poorest New Zealanders and push thousands of children into poverty?Hon NICOLA WILLIS: I find it interesting that the member opposite wishes to demonise landlords. If there were no landlords in New Zealand there would be no tenants. No one would be able to rent a home. Under that Government I would note rents went up considerably. Well we want to be a Government that delivers more housing that actually achieves more affordable housing unlike that Government which colossally failed. Remember the 100000 KiwiBuild houses?"