O'Rourke Denis: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: General Debate[Sitting date: 30 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19676. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First):New Zealand is the land of milk and honey—if you have the money that is. The rises in power prices petrol rents rates and food are doing immense damage to Kiwi families. The Government says not to worry because we have a rock star economy except that for most Kiwi families it is a rock-bottom economy and the Government is aground with its economic policy which has relied on a dairy boom the Christchurch rebuild boom and over $60 billion in borrowing.Net Government debt as a percentage of GDP has risen from 5.5 percent in 2008 to a staggering 26.3 percent in 2013. In the meantime Statistics New Zealand data shows that in the year to June food prices are the highest since July 2011. In June vegetable prices increased 8.9 percent; meat poultry and fish prices increased 3.6 percent; butter was up 7.7 percent; yoghurt was up 3.6 percent; and in the year to June fresh milk was up 11 percent cheese was up 12 percent yoghurt was up 7.2 percent and butter was up 12 percent. Also beef was up 6.9 percent lamb was up 20 percent and chicken was up 2.4 percent. But incomes for most people are not up.For many people who are struggling the ability to buy meat and vegetables has been an issue for some time because these basics have reached the point of unaffordability. That means that people have to buy cheaper food that fills the tummy but lacks nutrition.We in New Zealand First will remove GST from food. Remember when John Key promised no increase in GST and then after the election increased it to 15 percent? That was a slap in the face for families trying to put good nutritious food on the table. And that slap came after a kick in the guts for most families when in 2009 the Key Government reduced tax for the highest income earners at a staggering $5 billion but there was nothing for struggling families.A recent OECD report stated that the income gap in New Zealand was the worst for all OECD countries and New Zealand has the fifth-highest food prices within the 34 OECD nations. New Zealand First will take GST off all food except for a very small number of items such as sugary drinks takeaways and restaurant food. So at least 95 percent of all food would be GST-exempt. The objective is to give relief to struggling middle and low-income Kiwi families.New Zealand First has surveyed mothers who buy the family food. Most spend around $300 a week but some must make do with $200 per week. They say they need the GST off food and if they get the benefit of the extra $30 to $45 a week they will use it to buy more and better food. Now that would be a rock star result. Kiwis on those middle and low incomes will feel the greatest benefit because they spend a much greater proportion of their income on food.This policy will cost $3 billion per year and will be partly funded by clamping down on tax evasion and the black economy estimated at $7 billion annually. The Key Government is projecting a $3.5 billion current account surplus within 2 years. So this policy is easily affordable. The policy is also easy to implement. Food is exempt from tax to some degree in many countries including Australia the United Kingdom and most of Europe because they do not see a family’s food as a proper object for taxation and neither should we. In addition New Zealand First will remove GST from rates on residential property. Rates are a major burden especially for people on lower and fixed incomes. It is a tax on a tax and that has to end.Under a New Zealand First Government food and rates will not be taxed because we are the one party that will genuinely address the cost of living and the cost of living is the big issue in this campaign.