Young Jonathan: General Debate 
Young Jonathan: General Debate 
[Volume:674;Page:20051] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 On the eve of Labour’s big announcement of its big grab to take more from New Zealanders I am proud to say that one of the Government’s key platforms for economic growth is to take less from and give more back to the pockets of New Zealanders. This is good news for the people of New Plymouth because we are an innovative and hard-working electorate and National believes in rewarding people for their effort. We are big employers with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. We are big exporters not only of dairy products and oil but also of high-quality engineering and manufacturing. We export education and tourism and shortly we will be the premier arts and cultural attraction in New Zealand. 
We heard Mr Nash today talk with the typical attitude of envy that comes across from that side of the House. He railed against John Key’s mates who Labour says got a tax cut of $1000 a week on 1 April this year. Labour says that is unfair. Mr Nash would have done the figures but he never brings them out: in order to qualify for that level of tax cut one would have been paying in the order of $336000 a year in tax already. What happened to that person in terms of that tax cut is that they are now paying $284000 a year in tax to this country. And Labour talks about fairness! 
Mr English said that 10 percent of New Zealanders are paying 70 percent of our tax. We are saying that in order for this country to get ahead we are putting more money back into the back pockets of New Zealanders. People like that who are relatively few in our country are more likely to invest their money than spend it which is probably why they are high-income earners in the first place. They are the sorts of people who create jobs. Money creates opportunities and these people would do that. 
When one considers the broadness of our tax reform when one considers that 73 percent of New Zealand taxpayers pay only a 17.5 percent marginal tax rate and that a family of four on an income of $50000 after receiving Working for Families effectively pays no tax at all one has to see that we have a fair and robust tax system. The Opposition often quotes the OECD when talking about capital gains. But the same organisation states: “New Zealand’s tax system is one of the most neutral and efficient in the OECD. Bases are generally broad and rates are moderate.” It said that back in 2001 before the taxation reforms came through at the end of last year and started on 1 April this year. That was before we underwent the most extensive tax reform in the last 25 years. 
The Opposition wants to take more of New Zealanders’ money because of its “we know best how to spend it” attitude. You work for it you sweat— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member is referring to the Speaker. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: That is what they would say. The people of New Zealand work for their money. They sweat for it they worry for it they do the long hours of toil and they spend their weekends in their offices and in their workshops but Labour says that it will spend the money because Labour knows best. 
Last Sunday morning on  
Q+A 
 on the innovation episode it was significant when Paul Holmes asked the studio audience of New Zealand’s top innovators and entrepreneurs whether they supported a capital gains tax. Not a single hand went up— 
Jo Goodhew 
: David Shearer. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: —with the exception of David Shearer Labour MP for Mt Albert because he had to. Not a single hand moved from the nation’s top innovators and entrepreneurs. There was not a flicker of a finger and not a raised eyebrow. The best that David Shearer could say was: “Wait until Thursday.” New Zealand’s brightest entrepreneurs and New Zealand’s brightest innovators essentially said to the Labour Party: “Don’t take anything more. We can do something better with the funds that we have than you can.” 
When National took the reins of office New Zealand had been in recession for 9 months which was well before other countries and well before the global financial crisis. The BNZ performance and manufacturing index stated that in February 2009 the manufacturing sector went into recession. That was not good for New Plymouth.