Nash Stuart: Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill — Second Reading 
Nash Stuart: Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5426] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 It is with pleasure that I rise to speak in support of the Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill. What a mouthful! One needed a dump truck to carry this tome from one’s office to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. In his speech on the bill during the previous Parliament the Hon Lockwood Smith—now our esteemed Speaker—stated: “The select committee is in for a lot of work on this bill.” Dr Smith was not wrong. 
I especially thank all the Inland Revenue Department officials. I acknowledge Robin Oliver and his team here tonight for the dedication and hard work they put into the bill. I also acknowledge our own advisers for their help and for the work they put into the bill. It started out as 700-odd pages and turned into 824-odd pages. The work the officials put in was directly inverse to the amount of sleep I think I missed every Tuesday night and Wednesday morning for many a week. But I assume it probably went both ways considering the amount of work the officials put in and the amount of papers they gave us to read which were of excellent quality. I thank them very much for that. 
Mr Foss is now the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I will admit and give credit where credit is due that he did a great job of chairing the committee on the bill. But at the first reading he was an Opposition member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee. He stated that he would need to sit down over a couple of bottles of good Hawke’s Bay wine in order to digest the contents of the bill. I have no doubt considering the size of the bill that the honourable member now residing in the Bay is a committed alcoholic or the owner of a winery. 
John Hayes 
: Mr Fairbrother? 
STUART NASH 
: Mr Who? The bill is the largest tax bill ever to be considered apart from a rewrite of tax legislation into plain English which I know seems like a little bit of an oxymoron. One of our officials suggested that it be split into a number of bills—at least two bills—due to its size and complexity. Unfortunately it was too late to do so but I hope that advice will be heeded in the future. 
The bill is a Labour bill. Like everything the Labour Party does it is aspirational transformational forward-looking and bold. It is bringing us into the 21st century. As we all now know Labour is the party of tax reform and certainly of business tax reform. After all we are the only party in a generation to have lowered the corporate tax rate. We did it twice. Do members know that one party voted against it? Which party was it? I think it might have been National that voted against lowering the corporate tax rate. Labour is the party of business tax reform. 
But let us get back to the bill. It is interesting to note that during the bill’s first reading both Mr Tremain from Napier and Mr Foss from Tukituki were very lukewarm on the merits of the bill. In fact they were quite negative towards the bill. Yet Dr Cullen another MP residing in the Bay at the time understood its value for New Zealand as an important player on the international stage. Dr Cullen brought his characteristic vision knowledge and understanding of international tax and the regulatory environment to the legislation in so far as he recognised that if we did not overhaul our international tax legislation and take a global perspective we would be left behind. Neither Messrs Tremain nor Foss understood that fact. They now seem to have come to their senses and are supporting this aspirational Labour bill. 
As a Napier-based MP I am happy to pick up on the promotion of the bill on behalf of Hawke’s Bay Labour from where Dr Cullen left off. I understand its value to the people and businesses of the Bay even if Tremain and Foss did not. Then again Tremain and Foss both voted for personal tax cuts— 
Craig Foss 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: You must use the members’ full names when you are referring to them. 
STUART NASH 
: Mr Chris Tremain and Mr Craig Foss voted for personal tax cuts that 75 percent of taxpayers in Hawke’s Bay will not be able to access because they earn under $40000. That 75 percent of taxpayers in Hawke’s Bay will get no benefit from the National Government’s personal tax cuts is just not right. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: It’s typical though. 
STUART NASH 
: It is typical but it is not right. Dr Michael Cullen however understood the demographics of Hawke’s Bay and of New Zealand and that is why he introduced packages like Working for Families one of the greatest pieces of income distribution legislation this House has ever seen. 
Brendon Burns 
: They kept it. 
STUART NASH 
: Thank goodness the National Government kept it. National members stand up and say “Aren’t we wonderful; we’re keeping Working for Families.” Labour was the party that had the vision to introduce it. 
Dr Cullen also instigated personal tax cuts for those who most need the help in these tough economic times. But do members know what happened? The National Government repealed the tax cuts in favour of tax cuts for those who earn the most. The price of the National Government’s tax cuts was cuts to KiwiSaver and the axing of the research and development tax credit—two schemes designed to address our savings issue and our lack of overall investment in innovation. The National Government cut those two innovative initiatives in order to fund tax cuts for those who need them least. I would say that some of the $700 million put aside for the Fast Forward Fund which has also been cut was also used to fund the tax cuts. It is just not right and it is just not fair. Thanks to Mr Key for nothing. 
John Hayes 
: We remember your grandfather’s Black Budget. Oh yes we do. We know what your grandfather did. 
STUART NASH 
: Absolutely. Do members know what he did? He knew what was right for the people of New Zealand. There is no way that that man who delivered nine Budgets ever did wrong for the people of New Zealand. He took them out of poverty and brought them back to the road of prosperity. At least we now know the National Government’s vision for this wonderful country. The Government is blind and the only dog in sight is barking up the wrong tree. 
When Labour was in Government we had to fix one hell of a mess inherited from the National Government Minister of Finance in 1999. Who was that? It was Bill English. Last century he totally mismanaged the last recession and the Labour Government fixed it up to the point where we could finally start investing in tax cuts and innovation spending. It took 8 years to repair the damage done by the raping and pillaging of our public services. We were in a position to start investing but true to form the Nats have torn it all down. There are cuts to education cuts to health and cuts to superannuation. It is so true to form. 
John Hayes 
: Your granddaddy did it all in his Black Budget. 
STUART NASH 
: Absolutely. Do you know what Sir Walter Nash did? He built the social welfare system and you guys have torn it down. You are a disgrace. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member cannot bring me into the debate. I know what the member is trying to say but I remind the member not to bring the Chair into the debate. Thank you. 
STUART NASH 
: A great quote is that the first thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history. The National Government cut adult and community education. 
I come back to the bill. The bill introduces changes to many areas in current tax law. It reforms our international tax rules by amongst other things introducing tax exemption for foreign active income of controlled foreign companies and exempting most foreign dividends received by New Zealand companies from tax. The bill will “allow New Zealand residents with active businesses in overseas markets to compete on an equal footing with their competitors.” It will “align life insurance taxation rules more closely with the actual profits of term life insurance business and extend portfolio investment entity”—that is PIEs. I noted that the honourable member for the Wairarapa’s eyes suddenly lit up when I started talking about pies but these are portfolio investments and the bill extends the rules on those investments to life insurers’ savings products. 
The bill is wide ranging. It will introduce a voluntary payroll giving scheme. It will amend the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985. It includes remedial amendments to the tax pooling rules in the Income Tax Act 2007. Numerous other changes are proposed but I think everyone gets the message. The bill is visionary and wide reaching. As mentioned many people have put significant developments into the bill. The bill mirrors the type of person Dr Cullen is and the type of politician he was: visionary aspirational intelligent and always working for the people of New Zealand. Dr Cullen always asked what was right for the people of New Zealand and he always knew that what was right for them was right for Labour. That is why he sponsored the bill. Thank you very much.