Leary IngridINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri): What a load of scaremongering. What are the Opposition afraid of? If there was ever a myth that keeps poor people poor it is the myth of fairness without transparency especially when the conditions of fairness are assumed and not agreed or are conceptualised without data and then they're sterilised from political analysis because they're deemed separate distinct discrete and devoid of influence because they belong in the realms of an objective economy an objective rules-based system. This is modern-day mythology. It's lazy analysis and one of the most powerful fabrications of our political system is that the tax system is based on generalised symptoms of fairness which no diagnosing practitioner worth their reputation would ever attest to. It is classism disguised as a rules-based system in the 21st century yet nobody really knows the rules because nobody can test them against a backdrop of real principles.Now the Taxation Principles Reporting Bill is groundbreaking. It unpacks what is meant by fairness" into six fundamental taxation principles without hierarchy so that policy trade-offs can be fairly understood. It doesn't seek to rank them. Rather it seeks to inform those impacted about the trade-offs so they can understand what is understood as "fair" in the context. It also reflects a common understanding that a good tax system involves different trade-offs at different times. This is in the context of the high-net-worth individuals research data that reveals some people in our society pay a real tax rate of 9 percent while others pay around 20 percent. It requires income and wealth situations to be transparent measurable and comparable so that policies can be created against a backdrop of baselines not assumptions. This obvious yet revolutionary law sets up the ability for New Zealand to make tax rules based on real data and inequalities and disparities in wellbeing by setting out openly the accepted tax principles. It requires us to enunciate the principles at play the trade-offs and the anticipated benefits through the Inland Revenue commissioner. Anyone who sees this as hard to do is ducking for cover. Why wouldn't they want a baseline of real data from which to make their policy? The legislation gives the IRD the tools to get real data to form a real baseline from which to make real policy. It shows transparently the principles at play the trade-offs and the assumptions underpinning the tax system. It allows for open transparent discussions on tax. We've heard about the principles: horizontal equity vertical equity efficiency integrity coherence and flexibility. These are all well accepted—they are well-accepted principles but what I'm really proud of—as a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee—is that when we look at inequality we are also able to consider comparative wellbeing. That puts wellbeing across the economy both in the Public Finance Act and the Public Service Act and now into the tax system in a way where we can really understand what the impact is of our policies not just the inputs. I'm really proud of this bill. I commend the Minister who shepherded it for so long through the process the Hon David Parker and I'm really proud to be standing here today seeing this come into the House. I commend it."