Dunne Peter: Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Dunne Peter: Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:6009] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Minister of Revenue) 
: 
 I want to make a few comments about payroll giving and I am grateful for the support for this that members from across the Chamber have indicated in their remarks this afternoon. 
Payroll giving is an important step forward. It was first foreshadowed in the discussion document that was issued in 2006 which arose from the confidence and supply agreement that United Future had with the previous Government over a charitable tax regime. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: You’ve had one with every Government. 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: With every Government so far yes. I am not sure whether the current agreement is the second leg of the double or the third leg of the quinella but I remind members that the first part of the process was— 
Amy Adams 
: A trifecta! 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: Never mind. I am not a racing person as the members can see. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Not a racist. 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: That neither. 
The first part of the changes to the tax law was the changes to the rebates for charitable donations that came on 1 April last year. The change to bring in payroll giving was something we were very keen to see for all of the reasons that members have enunciated. This scheme draws very heavily on the scheme that was implemented in Australia. 
By nature of being a voluntary scheme people will have a choice about going into it. We have resisted and I think the committee was wise to resist some of the submissions that tried to prescribe too narrowly the organisations that might be considered for this scheme. I think that is a choice for the taxpayer and it is a matter of the employer having the systems to be able to deal with it. 
Mr Foss made the point about the original limitation to electronic filing companies. The figures that I had originally—I think they have moved a little bit since—were that around 16 percent of businesses in New Zealand were filing electronically but that covered about 70 percent of the workforce. I think those figures have moved upwards a little in the last couple of years. So this policy initiative will be available to most New Zealand taxpayers should they choose to take advantage of it. For those of a certain age it will be very similar to the old days when we made our National Provident Fund or Government Superannuation Fund contributions. The net figure was the one taken after those contributions had been deducted. That is when we got our rebate. 
One thing that will be important and I say this by way of observation is that once this scheme takes effect—and with the Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill passing at around this time 1 December will be the effective date for the start of payroll giving—employers and those who have been associated with similar schemes elsewhere will need to be part of an advisory group of people drawing to both employees’ attention and employers’ attention how this scheme works how simple it can be and how it is a win-win for both. We will be working separately with appropriate people to make that information available. 
I hope that in time there is another raft of issues that we can deal with with regard to charitable giving. We have work under way at the moment on the question of access to imputation credits for charities. That work is on hold to some extent pending the outcome of the Australian Government’s tax review and any issues there that might be determined regarding the mutual recognition of imputation credits across both countries. 
This scheme is part of a concerted suite of measures designed to promote a culture of giving in New Zealand designed to make it easier for people who wish to give to charities to do so designed to boost that support and designed to recognise the large number of charitable organisations that there are in New Zealand—Mr Foss referred to 1100-plus alone beginning with the letter “A.” There are many many charities in this country and the charitable registration process is part of that. I am currently reviewing the number of donee organisations that are eligible for tax deductibility and that review will be completed a little later in the year. 
I simply wanted to thank members for their support for this provision. It is an important one it is a welcome one and it is an extremely positive step forward.