11. Question No. 11—RevenueSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore) to the Minister of RevenueQuestion No. 11—Revenue11. SIMON WATTS (National—North Shore) to the Minister of Revenue: Thank you very much Mr Speaker. As a registered paramedic may I acknowledge briefly the role of the Auckland-based St John paramedics and special emergency response team for their actions this morning. My question is to the Minister of Revenue. Does he stand by his statement on the Government's proposal for a wealth tax that As is clear from the papers I supported it" and does he think Inland Revenue was right to say a wealth tax would "generate a range of economic costs and other risks"?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Revenue): Yes I stand by my statement. It is IRD's obligation as public servants to provide unfettered advice to Ministers of the economic equity and other benefits and risks of proposed tax changes; that is a role I respect as Minister.Simon Watts: Why did he describe himself as "disappointed" over the decision not to pursue a wealth tax in this year's Budget?Hon DAVID PARKER: Because I was.Simon Watts: Was Inland Revenue right to say that they were "concerned" about the time frame for development of the wealth tax and if so why did he try to rush his wealth tax through?Hon DAVID PARKER: The inequities in the tax system exposed by the high-wealth individuals report is one of the reasons why I was pushing for that change.Simon Watts: Has the Prime Minister or his office had any communications with him over any potential breaches of collective Cabinet responsibility because of his public statements of disappointment with the Government's tax policies?Hon DAVID PARKER: No I was responding to an answer from the media; any other answer would have been entirely inconsistent with the papers. The Prime Minister has ruled this out. I'm collectively responsible for the decision that Cabinet has taken and I stand by the Prime Minister's statements.Simon Watts: Has he met with the Minister of Finance or the Prime Minister since the Budget on a wealth tax?Hon DAVID PARKER: Yes prior to the Minister and the Prime Minister ruling it out as Labour Party policy.Simon Watts: How can Kiwis take this Government seriously on tax when senior Ministers like himself are publicly agitating for a wealth tax even after the Prime Minister tried to rule it out?Hon DAVID PARKER: The Labour Party has kept every one of our promises on tax to the electorate unlike the last Government that promised not to increase GST and then did.Chris Bishop: Oh whatever. You said you wouldn't extend the brightline test and then did it anyway.Hon Damien O'Connor: Yeah you did. You lied about it.Simon Watts: Has he expressed his disappointment directly—Hon Damien O'Connor: You were dishonest. Simon Watts: —to the Prime Minister—SPEAKER: Order!Simon Watts: —that he's tried to rule out a wealth tax—SPEAKER: Order!Chris Bishop: You've been here 25 years—SPEAKER: Order! And for that you can both get up and apologise—the Hon Damien O'Connor and Chris Bishop.Hon Damien O'Connor: I withdraw and apologise.Chris Bishop: I withdraw and apologise and sorry to Mr O'Connor.Simon Watts: Has he expressed his disappointment directly to the Prime Minister that he's tried to rule out a wealth tax or is he saving that for his next letter to the editor?Hon DAVID PARKER: I'm very happy to quote my letter to the editor. I said to the New Zealand Herald that "I was interested to see the extensive space you gave to two former National ministers to uncritically air their views in your paper over the weekend. One column from Steven Joyce seemed [to] solely focus on attacking me for being a Labour Government Revenue Minister rather than a National one. I recall that Joyce enjoyed spending up large on roads in [the] day so long as they were [big] flash new ones—he wasn't so keen on the more mundane task of maintaining existing roads. The other column from National's campaign fundraiser Paula Bennett was devoted to telling us what a great guy Christopher Luxon is. Rust never sleeps! I hope your readers were enlightened.""