Bennett David: Taxation (Annual Rates for 2015-16 Research and Development and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Taxation (Annual Rates for 2015-16 Research and Development and Remedial Matters) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:9041. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): This is a solid bill unlike the last speaker’s comments—and I will come to those in a minute. But basically this bill has a number of issues that it deals with—such as research and development in start-up companies by allowing tax losses from research and development expenditure to be cashed out through a new tax credit within certain limits.It provides relief for black hole expenditure on research and development.It provides certainty for bodies corporate in relation to GST on services to their members and it sets the annual rate of taxation for the year. There are some administrative changes as well to the child support regime which the last speaker Grant Robertson spoke about. There is the repealing and the simplifying of filing requirements for individuals. Basically this bill covers a number of issues within the tax system.Contrary to that last speaker it is not a bill that does not take into account the needs of our tax system to be continually updated and the need to look at what we can do to make sure that we have the best tax system possible. The last speaker talked about property measures and there being no vision for the role of the tax system. Well that is basically code for the Labour Party telling you that it wants to have increased taxes. That was the message from that speech. That speaker talked about a mechanistic legislation that does not bring about structural change. Well that tells you that the Labour Party wants to make large-scale tax changes to our system and it wants to deal with those people who it perceives are not paying their fair share of tax.The Labour Party talks about income inequality and asset inequality. The last speaker was worried about our asset prices in housing. That all relates to a capital gains tax and that is something that the leader of the Labour Party has dismissed. He has said that it is not a policy. We know that Grant Robertson and Stuart Nash want to bring that policy back. They are working within the Labour Party to bring that policy back as we speak. They have said that in their speeches tonight. That is the true Labour Party policy going into the next election. There will be a capital gains tax hidden in Labour Party tax policy. There will be higher tax rates for individuals hidden in Labour Party tax policy. That is what the last speaker said in regard to this tax bill.The last speaker spoke about the annual rates staying the same. Labour wants to increase the annual rate of taxation on New Zealanders. No New Zealanders should not be under any illusion when we go into an election next year when the Labour Party does not put out its tax policy and when it does not give any information on how it intends to raise money for grandiose promises—they now know that the Labour Party definitely intends to increase taxes and to bring in a capital gains tax. That is the message from the last speaker from the Opposition.This is a good bill that does work well in our tax system. It is a bill that adds on to the tax system in regard to research and development. It helps new companies that are looking to get ahead. It gives them a specified ability to get tax losses cashed out through the new programme. It deals with that black hole expenditure which is something that is a continual process within the tax system. These things are not set in one moment. They take time to refine to develop and to provide the right answers for New Zealand taxpayers. The bill provides certainty for other taxpayers through the legislative changes made. This is a good bill for our tax system. It reflects a strong tax system where we work to make sure that we make it even stronger each time rather than having what the Labour Party wanted which was higher taxes and a capital gains tax. Thank you.