Peters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10139. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Prime Minister: How does he stand by all his statements?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): On foot. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! We now need to get to the serious business of question time with substantially less interjection from quite a number of prominent people in the House.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can he stand by his statements yesterday that New Zealand “is not a tax haven” and that we “also have an extensive disclosure regime” when specialist law firms on trusts for foreigners point out there is no need for disclosure of identity or trust registration or for any such trust accounts to be audited?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Because I am right. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: This is now the third time I have asked for a little bit of cooperation and I am going to have to expect it in the future.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can he argue that he is right and that our legal requirements and obligations are both transparent and require disclosure when the Inland Revenue Department is not required to share information with foreign jurisdictions unless that jurisdiction suspects offending and then asks it for information?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Because I am correct and the member is wrong.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not saying that I am right. I am asking him a simple question that does not require that flippant answer now twice.Mr SPEAKER: No the question started with “How can he argue that he is right” and the Prime Minister gave an answer that satisfied that. The member might not agree with it but it addressed the question.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does he agree with John Christensen the executive director of Tax Justice Network that: “Trusts are used in many instances as one of the basic building blocks of these sophisticated tax evasion structures.”; if not why not?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I am not here to be a tax trust expert but people use trusts for all sorts of reasons. They use them because they want to have their assets held because they may for instance be sued or they may use trusts for all sorts of other reasons. Members of this House use them all the time.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Quoting from this long statement from the Prime Minister: “Tax havens are where there is non-disclosure of information. New Zealand has full disclosure of information so all you’ve got is a situation where New Zealand has taken a different view from a lot of jurisdictions and that’s because the way we tax is we tax a settlor in other words it’s all about making sure that New Zealanders”—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Rt Hon Winston Peters: —“pay their fair share of tax.”Mr SPEAKER: Order! I do need a supplementary question not a long quote.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Well having to conclude: “it’s all about making sure that New Zealanders pay their fair share of tax.” What on earth does that mumbo-jumbo really mean?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well it sounded a lot better when I said it but the answer was that we tax a settlor and the reason we tax settlors is that it is good tax policy. It stops New Zealanders actually creating taxes in all sorts of foreign jurisdictions and avoiding paying tax in their home country called New Zealand.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If he is right why are so many international commentators and now the Australians having a go at us for being in their words “a tax haven”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: As the member knows people throw around all sorts of comments but New Zealand is not a tax haven.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can he assure this House that none of his present or former Ministers—that is him as Prime Minister—have been and are involved in tax haven activity?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot speak for any other member because we have a pecuniary interests list that people have to record but as I have recorded on my pecuniary interests I have two trusts. One of them has been the long-established trust I have had in my wife’s name the JP & BI Key Family Trust and the other is the Aldgate Trust which was established so it could be a blind trust so that when I became Prime Minister all of my assets could go in there. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The Hon Amy Adams I have called for order.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is that blind trust one with 20/20 vision?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I have no ministerial responsibility there other than to say that a blind trust was established as other Prime Ministers have because it is good practice to do so.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why since he has become the Prime Minister has there been a threefold increase in offshore trusts operating in New Zealand were it not for the discovery internationally of just how lax our tax money - laundering disclosure regime is?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: That is not true. Tax laws around trusts were established in New Zealand in 1988. The disclosure regime change was implemented in 2006. Subsequent to that there have been a number of other things that have been done to improve aspects of trusts. In 2013 the OECD gave a report on New Zealand and fully cleared New Zealand.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If that is the case why subsequent to that date he gave as the reason why we should be all relaxed about it have the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and Treasury expressed their concern about the existence of tax haven activity in New Zealand and why should we believe him and not them?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: As I said in 2013 the OECD gave New Zealand a clean bill of health. What has also happened is that New Zealand continues to work with the OECD about its base minimisation but the Inland Revenue Department regularly puts up a menu of options that could be looked at as part of its work programme. It was not the No. 1 priority for the Government at the time because compared with other measures where we could have them working it would actually be about collecting more tax for New Zealanders.