Wong Pansy: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Wong Pansy: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Sitting date: 14 December 2004. Volume:622;Page:17812. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 The Hon Michael Cullen who was the Minister in the chair earlier was good enough to take a call to answer some of the issues that I raised. I challenge the current Minister in the chair the Hon David Cunliffe to also take a call. 
John Key 
: Who? 
PANSY WONG 
: I have problems explaining to my colleagues just who the Hon David Cunliffe is. I am afraid he might have to make more visits in Auckland. I think his biggest problem is that he campaigns in west Auckland but lives in central Auckland. That may be causing the confusion. 
The Hon Michael Cullen was good enough to take a call laugh off United Future’s Supplementary Order Paper 284 and say that United Future’s Supplementary Order Paper’s indexation would give back to a household only about a dollar a week. But that same Minister when he introduced the bill to index the petrol tax increase gave the same reason. He said that it would cost the household about a dollar a week and that it was no big deal. So it seems to me that if the Minister of Finance thought that it was no big deal why not reward that amount to hard-working New Zealanders? We in National believe that is a very small step but it would be a step in the right direction. 
A Minister cannot laugh off the petrol tax indexation as no big deal then not support United Future’s Supplementary Order Paper to index the rate of income. But as my learned colleague the Hon Bill English pointed out that was a misleading statement anyway because United Future brought to the Committee a very sensible Supplementary Order Paper on adjusting the tax threshold. The only problem is that United Future is not committed to see it through. Now that party campaigned on integrity and on battling for its supporters but I am afraid that it will not see this bill through by voting against it because every other party apart from Labour and I think the Progressives is against this bill. United Future has the single opportunity to make a difference in its 3-year term in this Parliament by showing that it is serious about representing the hard-working middle New Zealanders. So all eyes will be on United Future members to take their fight to the end and to challenge the minority Labour Government to show its respect for United Future by supporting this Supplementary Order Paper because in the words of Dr Michael Cullen: “This indexation is no big deal.” 
I look forward to the Minister in the chair taking a call to explain to his good friends United Future members why the Government would not support their Supplementary Order Paper. It certainly would make a hole in the $6.5 billion tax surplus that was announced yesterday. It is obscene for the Government to tax New Zealanders to the extent that it has brought in an additional $34 billion in tax. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Good Government! 
PANSY WONG 
: Oh a good Government! That is wonderful to hear. Now we know that the Labour member’s idea of a good Government is to rip off hard-working New Zealanders. We can see that is just what Labour MPs believe. I think the electorates will have something else to say in the election year to show Labour MPs that a good Government is one that is considerate and compassionate to hard-working New Zealanders and would not tax them so it can waste that money on community education in polytechnics!