Hodgson Pete: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Hodgson Pete: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:229] 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Labour—Dunedin North) 
: 
 I want to bring the debate back to the tax credits for independent earners and just point out gently that the Government has broken a promise. National said in the course of the election that there would be a $10-a-week tax break for independent earners earning between $24000 and $50000 and that is not the case. The law that is being passed does not do what the rhetoric before the election said National would do. But it might—it might. It would be easy to amend this. It would be easy to amend it if the Minister in the chair would care to follow the debate follow the bill or follow anything at all really; he could indicate whether his Government would be prepared to support an amendment to section LC13(5) in clause 31 by changing the amount of $44000 to $50000 because this side of the Chamber would gladly draft such an amendment. It would take a matter of moments; we could put it to the Committee and the Government of the day could maintain its pre-election promise. 
It is not a big promise that is being broken—it is only $6000; it is only $10 a week over that $6000 range—but it is a broken promise. It can be corrected. We have picked it up and we are bringing it to the Government and asking whether it would like to fix it. We are happy to draft the amendment. Of course the Government could draft the amendment itself—we do not mind; we would vote for it if the Government wanted to put it on the Table or we could draft it for them. The Minister may want to take the call and indicate whether he would be prepared to support such an amendment. We can put it on the Table in no time at all. 
You see what has happened is that the $44000 is where the rebate starts to bleed out. It is bled out by $50000. That means that if one is on $49000 and thought that one was going to get an independent earner’s rebate of $10 a week the news is that it will actually be about $1.50 a week. So that is a broken promise for that person. 
Hon Member 
: How much? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: A dollar fifty a week. Someone on $48000 will be getting $3 a week instead of $10 a week and so on. So we have a Government that has managed to break a promise for every New Zealander who would be eligible for the independent earner’s tax credit who is earning between $44000 and $50000. They will not be getting $10 a week they will be getting less than that something between $10 and zero a week. So I am saying that to the Minister in the chair Jonathan Coleman to see whether he would like to contemplate receiving an amendment on the floor of the Committee from the Opposition. Indeed the Minister may wish to propose it. It is not difficult and it probably is not very expensive. It probably is nowhere as near as expensive as addressing the problem of the fact that we are going to have higher tax on very low-paid New Zealanders than we would otherwise have. That is the real crime in this legislation but this is a broken promise because National told us about the first amendment before the election. This amendment arrived this afternoon. This afternoon it became clear that the tax credit for independent earners was not as generous as National had promised in the course of the campaign and if it would like to correct this clear obvious and unmistakable broken promise then now is the time to do so. 
So I will just say to the Minister in the chair that if he would like to nod I will write the amendment. It will be just a pleasure if the Minister would just nod. I am just trying to get something. What did I get out of that Mr Carter? Did I get a nod? Is that a nod? Let me ask another Minister. Can I ask the Minister whether he would support an amendment to allow National for not any great price to not break an election promise? Are any National members prepared to agree to not break one of their election promises? Are any National members within the Chamber prepared to indicate to this Labour Opposition whether they would support any amendment that for not too much cost would stop them breaking an election promise? 
I am still not getting any answers. I ask Tau Henare whether he as an esteemed member of the National caucus will give me a nod of support that would be followed by his vote if I were to put forward an amendment to make sure that National did not break an election promise. We have picked it up we have pointed it out and there is still time. We are in the Committee stage and it can happen ladies and gentlemen. This Parliament can stop the governing party from breaking an election promise. We are here to help and we are very happy to offer this up. Would one member of the National Party indicate his or her preparedness?