Russell DeborahHon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Associate Minister of Revenue): It was astonishing to listen to those 10 minutes of what can only be described as naive hyperbole from the deputy leader of the National Party—naive" because it doesn't understand what is actually going on; "hyperbole" because the words used were absurd and ridiculous. It does make me wonder though—it does make me wonder—why the Opposition never lets their spokesperson for revenue have the first go at tax Acts. Instead he gets relegated down the list not allowed to talk. If I was the spokesperson for revenue over on the Opposition side I'd be quite upset about that. That might be worth getting hyperbolic about.Let's start with the amount of tax revenue under Labour and this is where the naivety comes through. The deputy leader of the National Party—their finance spokesperson not their revenue spokesperson—was quite naive in talking about what taxes are coming in to our coffers to everyone's coffers to the country's coffers during this period and gave us some raw numbers—raw numbers that were not adjusted for the size of the economy; raw numbers that were just in dollars. But let's talk about what the tax take actually is in this country and the fact is that under Labour it's gone up and down a little bit but it hovers around about 30 31 percent of GDP. There has been no particular change in the level of the tax take when you look at it in terms of the percentage of GDP. That's because under this Government we have had a thriving economy that is characterised by growth. So we need to move beyond the raw numbers and look at tax as a percentage of GDP.But where I really want to take this is to talk a little bit about the platform tax and here again the deputy leader of the National Party showed just how naive she is—just how naive she is. The world has changed—the world has changed. Modes of business that existed 20 years ago have changed and in particular we now have new modes of business that are created and enabled by the internet by the apps on our phones. We have new ways of doing business and the old tax system no longer fits them. We actually need to change our tax system so that it works with the new ways of business instead of just naively pretending we can carry on as we did before and that is exactly what this work around the taxation of adding GST to platforms is actually doing.Now it's not only that the new ways of doing business have grown but in fact those ways of doing business have themselves changed. Think a little bit about when Uber first arrived in this country or when Airbnb first arrived. When Airbnb first arrived in this country it was about from time to time maybe renting out a spare room in your house so that someone else could use it for a weekend in the big city or a weekend in the country. But over time that has changed. The way that Airbnb operates now is that often it is the whole house that is permanently operated as an Airbnb. It is not simply just one room in a house. It is not simply just an occasional thing; it is an ongoing regular business.The same thing with Uber: it was promoted as a ride share but we know that the way that Uber operates now is an ongoing daily business activity for many many people. It's not just an occasional ride share. That was the way it was first set up but Uber itself has changed and in response to that we need to change the tax system.And in particular we need to change it because the way the taxation system works at the moment motel owners are at a disadvantage. Why? Because they have to charge GST but people who operate through the Airbnb platform do not. The way we have the tax system set up now people who operate a taxi have to charge GST but people who operate an Uber do not. We need to find a way to make it fairer. So what we have done is introduce a way of accounting for the taxes on businesses that operate through a platform like Airbnb like Uber. Those platforms will now charge 15 percent GST collect the GST pay it over.And it does make a difference. So here's the difference that goes on with respect to some people who are GST-registered if a business is already GST-registered. Now let's remember: any business can be GST-registered as long as they are carrying on a continuous or regular service providing goods and services for consideration to another person—that's the way we determine whether someone can be registered for GST. Any business can register for GST if they meet those criteria. Businesses who have a turnover over $60000 must register for GST—they must register for GST and it's an important thing. So if those businesses who are operating through the Airbnb platform who are operating through Uber are already GST-registered they are already charging GST they're set up for it they can work with the platform and the platform doesn't charge GST on the services that that GST-registered business provides.If however a business is not GST-registered then in order to ensure that Airbnbs that Ubers that other businesses like that operate in the same mode and are subject to the same conditions as other businesses—like motels like taxis—from now on the platform will collect 15 percent GST on top of the services.But here's something that the Leader of the Opposition—sorry the deputy leader; it gets hard to tell which is which sometimes—got wrong: she said a Zoomy driver will be hit with the full 15 percent GST. That is simply not the case and I direct the members of the Opposition opposite just over there—I direct the deputy leader of the National Party I direct whichever ACT Party member is going to speak on this—to page 75. And in particular I direct you to section 20(3N) of clause 116 and that tells you something quite special: that in recognition of the costs that the supplier bears on which they pay GST they get 8.5c of every 15c of GST back. It functions exactly the way that a GST-registered person can get a credit for the GST input tax they pay—it functions exactly that way. So they get 57 percent of every bit of GST charged back. They get it back and I direct your attention to that clause because it's very important. So like anyone who is GST-registered they get a credit for the input taxes they have paid. It's a really straightforward—it's sitting in there.And if you ask why 8.5c it's because when IRD looked at the numbers looked at what GST-registered businesses were paying what GST they were collecting what they were claiming back it turned out to be about 8.5c of every 15c of GST they were claiming back in input tax deductions. So the Zoomy driver does not get the full impact of the GST—get it right. That's all I can say is "Get it right".I think sadly I'm running out of time. So I just want to end on a simple point: what we had from the deputy leader of the National Party was scaremongering on taxation. The tired familiar old mantra from the Opposition which goes "Taxes bad. Taxes bad."Let me talk of some of the good things that taxes pay for. Taxes pay for education. Taxes pay for health. Taxes pay for welfare. Taxes pay for the roads we drive on. Taxes pay for the judges and for the legal system. Taxes pay for so many of the good things that we provide to our community because that way we are all better off. It's a simple thought: taxation is the price of civilisation and all of us ought to be glad to pay our taxes because that is what we do to create a civilised society and to create a society in which every person is cherished. I commend this bill to the House. [Interruption]ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Are we done? Are we done?"