Guy Nathan: Budget Debate 
Guy Nathan: Budget Debate 
[Volume:664;Page:11671] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 It has been just 26 days since the Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English delivered a fantastic Budget. Budget 2010 will rebalance the economy reward people encourage families to get ahead and attract and retain skilled people in New Zealand. It will encourage savings and productive investment in the economy of this great country. It will also make our tax system an awful lot fairer. I think it is worthwhile going through a few of the important points of this Budget. 
Firstly it will put economic growth at the forefront and centre stage. It will tilt the economy towards savings investments and exports and away from borrowing property speculation and the excessive Government spending we saw under the previous Government. Secondly we have announced a major tax reform package. There are tax cuts right across the board. They have been well received throughout New Zealand and particularly in my electorate the wonderful place of Otaki. Thirdly the Budget shows a much-improved outlook for the economy. It is projected to grow at 3 percent per annum over the next 4 years which is absolutely fantastic and we are starting to see signs of that. We are looking at getting back into surplus as quickly as we can which is also very positive. That shows that our policies over the last 18 months of this very forward-thinking Government are working and making a difference. Finally the Government has remained within its $1.1 billion limit on new spending. In addition we have moved $1.8 billion over the last 4 years into priority front-line services with a real focus on science research technology ultra-fast broadband rail and of course opening up and unclogging our roading arteries as well. 
Moana Mackey 
: What broadband? What rail? What cycleway? 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: This has been a particularly well-received Budget and I say to those chipping in from the other side of the House today that it would be worth their while looking at the tax guide website to see how much they will be better off. If they look on the website www.taxguide.govt.nz they will see how much better off they are. Of course we have made across-the-board personal tax cuts. We are also reducing the company tax rate and that is absolutely fantastic. The business tax rate has been reduced from 30 percent down to 28 percent. Now we are ahead of Australia and we hope that will stop the brain drain across the Tasman. 
There has been a small rise in GST up to 15 percent. It is interesting to hear the Opposition chipping in because if those members over there had been on the “Axe the Tax” bus which is running up and down the country they would know that when it pulled into Levin it was greeted by six people. And now we hear from the leader of the Labour Party Phil Goff that he cannot make up his mind whether he would reduce GST. But one thing is for sure: if Labour ever wins an election in the future—and I cannot see it doing that for a long period of time with the turmoil it is in today—we know that taxes will go up. 
We have also tightened the property tax rules and we are closing a number of loopholes as well by aligning the top personal tax rate with the trust rate. We are also focusing on the Inland Revenue Department and giving it the tools to clamp down on the behaviour of people who through loopholes are able to avoid paying tax. We are investing $120 million in the Inland Revenue Department over the next 4 years to ensure that it does more audits and achieves more compliance. The reality is that for every $1 that this Government spends on the Inland Revenue Department we get a $5 return. That investment will make a difference as well. 
This Budget is all about giving people an incentive to get ahead. It is a very fair well-constructed Budget that has been particularly well received. It is important for members opposite to realise that taxes have come down considerably. For those on the bottom income rate earning up to $14000 the rate has dropped to 10.5 percent. For those earning up to $48000 a year the rate has dropped to 17.5 percent. That means that 73 percent of our workforce right across New Zealand will not pay any more than a 17.5 percent rate of tax. Finally a family with two children pays no income tax until it earns $50000 a year. That is absolutely fantastic. The comment has been made this afternoon on this side of the House that those earning the minimum wage and the average wage—that is about $30000 to $50000 a year—now pay 40 percent and 50 percent less tax than they did in 1996. That is a huge change. By comparison people earning $100000 a year are now paying around 20 percent less tax than they were back then. So this is a Budget for the many and not for the few which is something we have heard Mr Goff talk about in the past. 
There is also a real focus on health and education which get the lion’s share of the new spending over the next 4 years as well as a real focus as we have heard from the Hon Pita Sharples on science and research and development. One focus that is really important in my wonderful part of New Zealand the Otaki electorate is the focus on infrastructure. We are focusing $7.5 billion on infrastructure across the country and have earmarked another $1.45 billion in this Budget alone for unclogging our roading arteries. Soon I will talk a little more specifically about this investment in roads schools ultra-fast broadband and rail. 
The other exciting thing for me as Minister of Internal Affairs Minister responsible for National Library and Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand is that my Budget bid to the Minister of Finance for Archives New Zealand was successful and I am delighted. So $12.6 million of new money goes to a digital archive which will really help the storage of information by Archives New Zealand and the National Library. This new money shows that this Government values and treasures the work that the National Library and Archives New Zealand do. If we think about how fast technology is moving about how the zip files floppy disks and what have you of the past are now becoming obsolete we realise that we have to keep up with technology and to make sure that such information is retrieved and stored. This is a very very positive investment which I am excited about: $12.6 million of new money to Archives New Zealand and to help the National Library. Of course we have $52 million flowing into the National Library as we speak for the New Generation strategy we are putting a new roof on the library as part of its refurbishment and soon a fantastic new library will be opening for the people of Auckland and those regions that encompass it. 
This Budget has been fantastically well received. The people of Otaki are saying thank goodness the Government is going to look after our superannuitants. We have 16000 in Horowhenua and Kapiti. They will be compensated for the small rise in GST. We have also announced in this Budget $3 million for land for a new school which will cater for up to 400 children in Waikanae and a new early childhood centre will be attached to it as well. That has been fantastically well received. More money is available for community law centres like the one in Levin my home town and there is also a large investment as I have already alluded to in the expressway all the way from Wellington Airport to Levin including Transmission Gully. That investment has been fantastically positively received. I am very disappointed to see that Labour will now oppose the expressway through the Wellington region up into Horowhenua. I cannot believe that Labour has decided to oppose that fantastic investment in roading. Also we have a turn-round plan for KiwiRail: $250 million will be invested in KiwiRail. Let us not forget that Labour lost $600 million of taxpayers’ money on rail. Budget 2010 has been a well-received Budget and I commend it to the House.