Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 12 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10372. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement “it has become pretty much unacceptable in the developed world at least to be running a tax haven that undermines other people’s tax bases”?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Yes.Grant Robertson: Brief but not memorable. How can he justify a regime which he helped to create and continues to defend that has led to the undermining of the tax base in a country such as Malta where senior politicians use New Zealand’s trusts and managed funds to make tax-free profits and that has led to the Maltese people protesting in the streets?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Of course it is up to the Maltese Government to decide whether any of those allegations are actually correct and it may well ask for information from New Zealand which of course it would supply. These matters will be dealt with by the expert review.Grant Robertson: How can he deny that New Zealand is eroding the tax base of a country like Malta when its tax evasion came via “a combo pack” from New Zealand designed to exploit New Zealand’s “weak … due diligence;”—as described by Mossack Fonseca—and has been made up of “New Zealand foreign trusts (which pay no tax on foreign income) and what is described as Look Through Companies … which could be owned by the trusts.”?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Not being an expert on those matters I would not want to comment on the tax affairs of the Maltese Prime Minister or whomever the member is actually referring to. The expert review will deal with the issue related to disclosure—about what happens with these foreign trusts. Bear in mind that anyone who transacts in New Zealand is now subject to anti - money-laundering provisions another regime called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and a further regime called the Automatic Exchange of Information all of which are part of New Zealand’s effort to play its part in the global work to reduce tax evasion and avoidance.Grant Robertson: Was Chapman Tripp wrong in its advice about the changes his Government made to allow for a zero tax-rating of non-residents’ managed funds: that this put New Zealand “in the same league as Luxembourg” the very country he was talking about in the quote during the substantive question?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I have not seen its advice and cannot comment.Grant Robertson: Why should the international community take seriously New Zealand’s calls for a crackdown on multi-national companies in New Zealand that are not paying their fair share and are eroding our tax base when we are implicated in eroding the tax bases of countries like Malta and Mexico or has he lost his moral compass too?Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Hon Bill English—the first part of that question.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Our voice in these discussions is taken seriously because New Zealand has the most comprehensive and thorough tax system in the developed world with the least loopholes and tax breaks and actually some in New Zealand would argue the harshest treatment of foreign investors in New Zealand.Grant Robertson: I seek the leave of the House to table advice from Chapman Tripp from 10 October 2011 that puts New Zealand in the same category as Luxembourg Ireland and the Caymans.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Leave is sought to table that particular legal advice. Is there any objection? There is objection.