3. Question No. 3—FinanceNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Finance: How much more income tax if any has the Government collected in the 2021 financial year compared to 2017 and will he commit to adjusting tax thresholds for inflation in Budget 2022?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The Crown accounts for the June 2021 financial year reflected the strong position New Zealand found itself in due to the Government's actions to protect lives and livelihoods in an extremely volatile and uncertain pandemic environment. As a result of the stronger economy which led to higher business profits more people in work and higher wages total income tax revenue including corporate tax in the year to June 2021 was $64.7 billion or 18.9 percent of GDP. In comparison in the June 2017 financial year total income tax revenue was $49.6 billion or 17.9 percent of GDP. To answer the second part of the question the member will have to wait just a little longer to find out what decisions have been made in Budget 2022. What I can say is that we won't be putting in place untargeted tax cuts such as the member is proposing that would see her and her leader get thousands of dollars while those on low and middle incomes would get just $2 a week.Nicola Willis: How many more billions of dollars is the Government collecting in income tax revenue compared to 2017?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I did give those numbers to the member so $64.7 billion minus $49.6 billion—I'm sure the member can work it out.Nicola Willis: Does he agree that bracket creep the increase in tax over time that has resulted from inflation can be considered as described by his Tax Working Group as a non-transparent increase in taxation?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Many Governments over many years have had put to them the importance of addressing bracket creep. Addressing that has to be considered alongside the many many other things that a Government needs to address such as the arrival of a global pandemic for instance a one-in-one-hundred-year economic shock or for instance dealing with under-investment in a health system after nine years of a National Government.Nicola Willis: Well isn't it the case that he welcomes inflation-fuelled taxation by stealth because it allows him to spend even more of New Zealanders' hard-earned money?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What this Government has done consistently since we came into office is strike the balance between keeping a lid on debt so that New Zealand's debt levels are among the lowest in the world while also investing in the public services that were run down under the National Party. It is always a challenging and difficult balance to get that right and then in the middle of that along came COVID. That meant we had to invest significant resources to support New Zealanders and keep them in jobs. When we did that the National Party supported it. Now with their 20/20 hindsight they want to turn that around. It's just not believable.Hon David Parker: Can the Minister confirm that the amount of taxation as a percentage of the economy or as a percentage of GDP is just about identical now to that which it was under the National Party in the same period post the global financial crisis?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Absolutely I can confirm that. In fact I can say when it comes to personal income tax revenue it was actually around about the same or slightly higher under National in 2009 and 2010.Nicola Willis: How can he possibly claim he is striking the right balance when this year alone he has collected $2.7 billion more in tax than forecast and why in the middle of a cost of living crisis does he think it's acceptable to take more tax from hard-working New Zealanders?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Isn't this interesting? The true National Party opposing more people being in work opposing businesses getting higher profits opposing people going out and consuming more and spending in their communities. We have struck a careful balance because we have kept net debt at levels that are much lower than the countries that we compare ourselves to while making sure that we invest in the core public services we need. The validation for that comes from the rating agencies who have given us triple A ratings: the IMF the OECD who have all said that New Zealand deserves to be congratulated for the way it's come through the pandemic.