10. Question No. 10—RevenueANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua) to the Minister of RevenueQuestion No. 10—Revenue10. ANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua) to the Minister of Revenue: What steps if any has he taken to ensure New Zealanders receive refunds on tax they have overpaid on their KiwiSaver incomes for the 2018-19 financial year?Hon STUART NASH (Minister of Revenue): This is not a new problem. It has been the law since 2007 and reflects the way the old system worked. There is a bill before the select committee that is looking at this issue. In the meantime Inland Revenue has already sent out about 1.4 million letters to people letting them know that they are on the wrong tax rate and they should update it. National actually had nine years to address it and I'm doing something about it.Andrew Bayly: Can he confirm that close to a million New Zealanders overpaid approximately $42 million on their KiwiSaver accounts for the 2018-19 financial year and a similar amount is expected to accrue for the 2019-20 year?Hon STUART NASH: I can confirm about 950000 New Zealanders did overpay an average of about $40 a year on their KiwiSaver accounts.Andrew Bayly: Why does he think it's fair not to refund $42 million of overpaid tax to those New Zealanders who are all on low incomes earning less than $48000 or effectively $23 an hour?Hon STUART NASH: As mentioned there's a bill before the select committee looking at this issue and I'll take direction from there.Andrew Bayly: How is it fair for the couple quoted by TV One last Sunday where the wife has overpaid tax on her KiwiSaver income and is not entitled to a refund but her husband has now received a demand from the IRD to pay more tax on his KiwiSaver as a result of receiving a salary increase following a promotion?Hon STUART NASH: I reiterate: there's a bill before the select committee. That member is on the Finance and Expenditure Committee and I'll take direction from them.Andrew Bayly: Does he agree with well-known tax specialist Terry Baucher who supports my proposed legislative—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member will resume his seat. If the member has a question he should ask it not make unnecessary assertions as part of it. If there's a particular quote the member wants to quote from a person do it but don't add unnecessary material.Andrew Bayly: Well sorry Mr Speaker but what I'm about to say does have an element of—SPEAKER: Any tax expert's view on a bill is not relevant to this Minister answering a question.Andrew Bayly: Well you did say if it's got a relevant quote to him and that's what the question has. So you didn't hear the rest of the question.SPEAKER: Well the member can have another go but he risks losing the question if he doesn't get it right.Andrew Bayly: Does he agree with a well-known tax specialist who believes that it is central that this issue is addressed now for the current 2018-19 and 2019-20 year because it's both not fair to low-income New Zealanders who are affected by the current arrangement and it is necessary to protect the integrity of the tax system in New Zealand?Hon STUART NASH: At the risk of being compared to Mr Jones and a parrot I will repeat what I've said in the last two answers. There is a bill before the select committee that member is a member of that select committee and I'll take my direction from what they decide.