Bayly Andrew: Land Transfer Amendment Bill Tax Administration Amendment Bill — Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBayly Andrew: Land Transfer Amendment Bill Tax Administration Amendment Bill — Third Readings[Sitting date: 10 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6555. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua): I am not going to spend too long talking about this legislation arising from the Taxation (Land Information and Offshore Persons Information) Bill this afternoon. But it is a little bit of a shame that we have got a number of speakers talking this afternoon who obviously have not spoken in the previous debate nor in fact have listened very carefully to what has gone on during the course of this legislation as it has worked its way through the House. At the end of the day this legislation is about protecting New Zealand’s tax base and making sure that every person pays their fair share of tax. The underlying theme is that if you are trading in residential property then you have to pay tax. I heard one speaker just a moment ago describe it as a capital gains tax. It is not a capital gains tax; it is a reinforcement of existing tax laws. The best analogy is that if you buy and sell shares with a view to making money on them you will have to pay income tax. It is exactly the same for this.There are a number of exemptions to this legislation. As I said it is focused on residential property. The exemptions are if it relates to your main house—and I am going to come back to the definition around “connection” in a minute; if it is inherited property; or if it is subject to a matrimonial dispute. You will note that we have excluded farmland and we have also excluded land a business occupies that may also have a residential component to it. That property would be excluded unless the residential component occupied more than 50 percent of it. A previous speaker just read out a definition of “connection” that she had picked up from Ernst and Young. Unfortunately she should have picked up the preamble to the bill. I just want to reinforce what this definition of “greatest connection” means in relation to the main house. Of course this becomes pertinent only if someone has more than two houses—it becomes pertinent only if someone has more than two houses. [Interruption]The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I am sorry to interrupt but could the member move to another microphone. There is some static. [Interruption] Please continue but I say to those who are controlling the sound that there is some static coming through.ANDREW BAYLY: In relation to greatest connection that is where their personal property was kept relates to the time they occupied each dwelling where their immediate family lived where their social ties were the strongest where their business interests were located and there are a number of these other issues. So it is quite a clear test.As I said before and I do not want to speak for too long the provision around this legislation should also be seen in light of the Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill which is also going to come into play on 1 October around the brightline test. There is a third bill that is going to come through to the House that is also about how we ensure that people overseas pay withholding tax so we can also apply some control around it and if they do need to pay tax we have suitable money set aside to be able to meet those legitimate claims that they should be paying for. I think this is great legislation. It has been pragmatic in the way it has been implemented and applied. Also as a final point it meets our anti - money-laundering obligations as a country. I commend the legislation to the House. Thank you.