Leary Ingrid; Salesa JennyINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri): I'd like to acknowledge the previous member Damien Smith for what at times was a helpful contribution in terms of explaining with some clarity at times what this tax on Airbnb actually does. I'd really like to address my comments tonight to those families that do run Airbnb businesses to reassure them that a lot of what has been said in the House tonight hasn't made a lot of sense but that this is primarily about fairness—I know that most New Zealanders are really preoccupied with fairness and don't mind paying their fair share—and actually that the impact of this tax will be nominal. It's not actually them who is being taxed it's the platform—and I'll get into that.But also I'd like to just look at whether the National Party the Opposition actually don't understand the tax which could be concluded from the comments tonight or whether they are really trying to gain some political mileage out of something. I suspect it's the latter because there's quite a track record of members across the House who've spoken tonight who have supported this particular tax but also supported what's being called the Netflix tax" which operates on the same principle. You can't have it both ways. The fairness is basically around distortion: either the market is distorted now or the market will be distorted if we bring this tax in. It's very clear that the market is currently distorted and what we are doing is recalibrating it to ensure that there is fairness in the market.I'll give you an example. It's not fair that somebody who prepares a meal in a restaurant is charged GST on that but the Uber driver who goes to deliver it is not charged GST. That is simply not fair. What we are trying to do is close a loophole that has come about because the world has changed technology has changed and there are ways of doing business now involving multinationals involving local suppliers that didn't exist when GST first came in.So the distortion is currently in the market and I thank Damien Smith for pointing out some of the conversations he's had with hospitality providers with taxi drivers who've said "How come we have to pay GST and Uber don't?" That is very much the case and that is why Hospitality New Zealand has supported this bill.In terms of the impact it is a nominal impact and that is because let's remember not all Airbnb providers earn less than $60000; there are many motels many professionalised members of the tourism sector who are using these platforms who are currently not passing on the GST to the Government. All of these providers are called "underlying suppliers". They continue to be zero-rated. So the equity in the tax system remains intact it has integrity; the GST applies to the platform provider. These are the multinationals these are the ones that Damien Smith spoke about who have been taking revenue out of New Zealand who are not paying their fair share currently. This is simply not fair to small businesses in New Zealand who are trying to compete with those international providers. They need to pay that GST and as often happens with these laws the net is either cast slightly too wide or slightly too narrowly and then there has to be some compensation to try and calibrate it. The way that has been achieved with this legislation is to say that for those earning under $60000 the GST will continue to apply to the platform provider and they will get the 8.5 percent rebate. That is how this works.So it's a small number of operators. I understand that they might feel concerned. There's been a lot of information and misinformation and a little bit of hysteria about what this tax involves but I can assure them that the distortion in the market is now and what this tax is aiming to do is to create a level playing field. I think all New Zealanders want a level playing field not only because it is fair but because that is what makes our tax system robust it's what makes our economy robust it's what contributes to economic stability.Then when I look at the National Party's track record on tax there has been of course—one policy which I think they no longer subscribe to which was around tax cuts for the rich. I'm glad to see that's off the table—the same policy that was going to give a $2 a week tax break for the lowest-income workers. But the flip-flop they are doing now I believe is really a cheap political ploy. I know that the members opposite are far more astute than that. Nicola Willis on 21 September 2022 said and I quote "It's about fairness ensuring that motels are treated the same as Airbnb and that Ubers are treated the same as taxis." She went on to say and I quote "In the case of tax for Super the status quo has been working for more than 15 years. In the case of Airbnb and Uber these are new developments." And yes they are. That is why we have these new categories of suppliers that we need to take into account.The Hon Michael Woodhouse a quote from Hansard 31 March 2016: "A strength of the New Zealand tax system is the fact that taxes are applied fairly and evenly and there are very few exceptions." He goes on another time in Hansard 3 May 2016: "The strength of our GST rules is that the tax is applied equally and with very few exceptions. This helps to ensure that the tax is fair efficient and simple." And there are also quotations from the Hon Todd McClay and others. So it's tempting to think that the members opposite don't understand tax. I can understand why my colleague the Hon Deborah Russell might say so herself being a tax expert; I'm sure she probably thinks that of many of us in the House. I give them more credit than that. I think that this is a cheap political ploy. They like to call it the "app tax"; it's got a ring to it. They know as well as we do that this a fair tax that is correcting a market distortion and that this is going to serve small New Zealand businesses and make the big multinationals pay the GST that they should be. And so I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call. I call on Sam Uffindell for five minutes."