4. Question No. 4—RevenueNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of RevenueQuestion No. 4—Revenue4. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Revenue: Does he stand by his statement in relation to the number of ineligible people receiving the cost of living payment that We're not sure of the exact number you don't know what you don't know" and what is the analysis if any supporting his claim that about 1 percent of the approximately 2.1 million people who received the payment are not eligible for it?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Revenue): Thank you Mr Speaker. Yes. Eligibility decisions are based on the best information that Inland Revenue holds. That information is and will always be high quality but is and will always be out of date at the margins. The vast majority of people getting the payment are hard-working New Zealanders who are entitled to it. We've got the balance right providing a time-limited income boost to help out 2 million Kiwis during a period of heightened cost of living. IRD does not have perfect and up-to-date information in all cases and never will. The alternative would be to have required over 2 million people to apply for it. The cost of administering that would have been much higher than the savings and would have delayed the payment. We also know that the extra hurdle would mean many people who were eligible would not apply. It's far better than alternatives like tax cuts that would give $2 to the lowest-income earners and tens of thousands of dollars not just to CEOs but to overseas-based landlords. My estimate of 1 percent is based in my confidence that the IRD information is robust and the vast majority of recipients are entitled to the payment.Nicola Willis: Why did he claim just yesterday that 2.1 million people would be receiving the payment when IRD has confirmed today that only 1.3 million people have received the payment many of whom live overseas?Hon DAVID PARKER: I didn't say that. The member is misrepresenting my statements. Indeed I have answered many questions—including I think in this House—assuring New Zealanders that if they haven't already filed their tax return and therefore don't meet the eligibility criteria but then later file their tax return for the year ended 31 March 2022 the payments will be backdated. I think in the House last week I confirmed that those people have until 31 March next year to do that.Brooke van Velden: Can he guarantee that the IRD will prevent people who are ineligible from receiving the second and third monthly payments?Hon DAVID PARKER: What I can assure the House is that the data checks that are carried out by Inland Revenue will be carried out again before every subsequent payment. The quality of the data will continue to improve. I would observe that the Inland Revenue Department is increasingly relying on automated data sets. This has enabled them to vastly reduce the cost of administration of tax services. Staffing numbers are down by close to 2000 people as a consequence of those automated services. It not only saves Government administration and therefore taxpayers many many hundreds of millions of dollars; it also rewards taxpayers by enabling them to get automated payments and refunds and the data sets that are relied upon in these automated processes are constantly being improved.Dr Duncan Webb: How many of the estimated 2.1 million people eligible to receive the payment were paid the $116 of the cost of living payment just yesterday?Hon DAVID PARKER: As the member opposite has already said 1.3 million were paid yesterday—as the deputy of the Labour Party has said—on day one of the scheme. We know from feedback that this has assisted with the cost of living as well as the assistance we've given with decreases in taxes and public transport costs. We know it's sincerely appreciated by the people who have received it for whom it makes a difference. None of those 1.3 million people would have received anything if an application process had been used. It would take many many months if you could ever do it. The other estimated 800000 or so will become eligible after they file their tax return for the year ended 31 March 2022. Those are people such as those who use tax agents or file IR3 returns rather than have their returns automatically calculated by the computer. Nicola Willis: Does the Minister agree with Australian Kelly McGuire a resident in Australia who received the cost of living payment and says "The money could make a lot of difference to a lot of families and it just seems a bit wasted imagining how many people like us there might be out there."?Hon DAVID PARKER: I think I've already addressed that question by making the point that the alternative application-based process rather than relying upon data sets would have cost a lot more money than it saved. Obviously we continue to strive to improve those data sets.Nicola Willis: Can the Minister confirm that the Inland Revenue Department recommended against being the delivery agency for the cost of living payment specifically warning Ministers that the information it holds may not be up to date meaning some people who should receive the payment might not and conversely some people will receive the payment who should not have?Hon DAVID PARKER: Yes I can confirm that and that's been obvious from the papers that have been released and questions that we've answered previously. It's also true that the Inland Revenue Department and the Treasury both recommended against tax cuts which would have been inflationary hard to deliver and would have increased the Government deficit.Nicola Willis: Can the Minister confirm he has no idea how much taxpayer money has gone into the bank accounts of people living overseas he has no idea how many eligible New Zealanders have missed out on the payment—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member's had two questions. Hon DAVID PARKER: I can confirm that the data sets relied upon by the Inland Revenue are very very good—probably amongst the best in the world—but they are not perfect. We continually improve them and the alternative would be to waste more money on administration on an application process that would've prevented the 1.3 million people who received a cost of living payment from receiving it yesterday.Brooke van Velden: Has the Government sought or received any advice about extending the cost of living payment beyond October and if not will he rule it out?Hon DAVID PARKER: I've received no such advice but have no current work under way to extend it so I wouldn't want to set the hares running by implying that I was.Brooke van Velden: Is it the Government's position that the cost of living payment is not inflationary because it is "time-limited" or is it the Government's position that it is refusing to rule out extending the cost of living payment beyond October?Hon DAVID PARKER: I haven't refused to rule out the extension beyond the end of October. As I've previously explained we haven't sought advice; we're not planning to extend that payment. In respect of the inflation point government is a complex thing and with the inflation around out-turn from the COVID pandemic around the world this Government believes that it is appropriate to assist people with temporary support through the likes of the excise duty the increased subsidies for public transport and this time-limited cost of living payment. That is less inflationary than longer-term tax cuts.Brooke van Velden: Is it acceptable that a young person who lives in a household that earns half a million dollars a year receives the cost of living payment and spends the money on an expensive new handbag?Hon DAVID PARKER: Oh well that's a purely hypothetical question. The eligibility criteria are that if the person earned less than $70000 in the year ended 31 March 2022 and they weren't in receipt of the winter energy payment then they are entitled to it. One of the criticisms that we often hear from the Opposition is that the Government's measures apply only to people in receipt of Government support rather than to middle-income people who are also facing cost of living pressures. This payment responds to that; how people apply it is for them.Chris Bishop: Point of order Mr Speaker. Sir it's not the world's biggest thing it's just to point out that you've traditionally had a rule that the primary question gets two supplementaries afterwards—SPEAKER: Yes and I'll point out that that's generally what I do and there's no requirement for me to do it. So the member is being disorderly again."