3. Economy—Tax RatesHon STEVEN JOYCE (National) to the Minister of FinanceEconomy—Tax Rates3. Hon STEVEN JOYCE (National) to the Minister of Finance: Can he confirm that from 1 April 2018 people earning the full-time average wage who are single with no children families with grown-up children and young couples starting out with no children will all pay more personal income tax than they would do from that date under the law as it currently stands?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): No.Hon Steven Joyce: Can the Minister explain how those people—people who are on the full-time average wage who are single with no children families who have grown-up children and young couples starting out with no children—won't pay more income tax from 1 April 2018 than under the law as it currently stands?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Because I'm advised that if a person were working for less than two months of the year on the full-time average wage they would not benefit from changes in the tax laws that are due to come into force on 1 April 2018. Hon Steven Joyce: So the Minister is saying that people who work less than two months of the year—Hon Member: What's the question?Hon Steven Joyce: Can he clarify that he's concerned only about people who are working for less than two months a year and not the 1.2 million people in this category that happen to work more than two months a year?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No I'm concerned for all New Zealanders including the member who might have wanted to put the word annual" in his primary question.Hon James Shaw: If the tax cuts outlined by the Hon Steven Joyce were to take effect would that make it more or less likely that the Government would be able to prevent future mass poisonings like that which took place in Havelock North?Mr SPEAKER: No no.Kiritapu Allan: What responses has he seen to the tax package that is currently in law and is scheduled to come into force on 1 April 2018?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I have seen the New Zealand Herald's Mood of the Boardroom survey in which 70 percent of chief executives saw the widening gap between rich and poor as a major issue and given this 56 percent of them did not support the previous Government's tax cuts. I've also seen the response of New Zealand voters a majority of whom supported parties that reject tax cuts that disproportionately favour the wealthy few.Hon Steven Joyce: Supplementary—Mr SPEAKER: Just before the member does I'd just like to discourage the clapping that is occurring—[Interruption]—and I'd like to discourage interjections from the Minister of Finance while I'm ruling. But I did notice yesterday there was both excessive barracking from my left and almost seal-like activity from my right and it is to stop.Hon Paula Bennett: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Just on behalf of the Opposition we just understand that they've had a bad week and they need to encourage themselves today with a bit of a handclap.Mr SPEAKER: And Paula Bennett that was not a point of order and seeing we're in question time the National Party will lose two supplementary questions.Hon Steven Joyce: Does the Minister appreciate that of the three parties in Government two of them voted in favour of the previous Government's tax package and only one voted against and only one campaigned against and that party attracted 37 percent of the vote which is nothing like a mandate for changing these tax initiatives?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Mr Speaker—Mr SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat because I think as all members will know there was nothing in that that actually got us to what the Minister is responsible for.Hon Steven Joyce: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In the answer to the previous supplementary question the Minister himself raised these matters and—Mr SPEAKER: Yes and the fact that one member breaches the Standing Orders and I didn't intervene is not a reason for someone else.Hon Steven Joyce: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr SPEAKER: The member's not going to—especially after the ruling that I've just given—dispute what I'm going to say.Hon Steven Joyce: I just want to clarify if I could—Mr SPEAKER: No no.Hon Steven Joyce: —in a general sense if I could Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: No the member can't. I want to make absolutely clear that there is no such thing and no ability in our Standing Orders to have a point of clarification or to do the sort of interrogation that I believe the member was going to start as to what the Standing Orders are. When I have ruled that is the end of the matter.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Are you now ruling that if a Minister introduces some new material into an answer that cannot be used in a subsequent supplementary?Mr SPEAKER: I want to apologise to the House for not stopping the Minister earlier and ruling it out. I should've I didn't and I am ruling that irrelevant material introduced in either a supplementary question or in an answer does not give licence for further extension of things that are outside the relevance question for that question.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it his view and position that the coalition Government came to the view that an expanded visionary forward-looking economic programme was far more likely to deliver justice to the people of this country rather than voting for something because there's nothing else on offer?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yes I do. I mean—Hon Steven Joyce: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Peters has just raised the election campaign and voting again which is the very thing you ruled out in my supplementary question.Mr SPEAKER: No no he actually referred to the—the substance of his question was around the policy of the coalition Government.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yes the coalition Government believes that we need to invest in our public services to actually transform the lives of New Zealanders to lift children out of poverty rather than delivering a tax cut to members of this House.Hon Steven Joyce: If the Minister is so obsessed about not delivering a tax cut to people who earn as much as members of this House—Mr SPEAKER: Question.Hon Steven Joyce: —can he explain why he wants to give people who earn as much as members of this House a $3000-a-year baby bonus with no income targeting whatsoever?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Because every piece of evidence I have seen says that the first years of a child's life are the most important in their development and on this side of the House we make policy based on evidence not bad ideology.Hon Steven Joyce: Does he realise that the Government's tertiary package which he is so proud of more than eats up the net savings from the tax package and why does it make sense to give for example a nurse a few thousand dollars off their university fees for one year and make her pay an extra $1000 a year in tax for the rest of her working life?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Because on this side of the House we believe that we're actually all in this together as a country. I want that nurse to go on and study and I want her children to go on and become whatever they want to be and we'll back them to do that unlike that party.Hon James Shaw: I'm going to have another crack Mr Speaker. If the Government revenues were to fall by a billion dollars a year or more due to income tax cuts would that make it more or less likely that the Minister would be able to allocate enough funding to get homeless people out of cars and garages and into new homes?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: It would be much less likely that the Government would be able to address the huge social and infrastructure deficits that have been left by the previous Government. We will invest in strong public services because that's what New Zealanders want."