Goff Phil: Taxation (Annual Rates Trans-Tasman Savings Portability KiwiSaver and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Goff Phil: Taxation (Annual Rates Trans-Tasman Savings Portability KiwiSaver and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:666;Page:13461] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 That rave by the member Aaron Gilmore shows just how out of touch this Government is. He treats with contempt the ratepayer who will have to pay on average maybe $30 or $100 a year more for the three-quarters of a year Supplementary Order Paper 157 covers. He treats that person with contempt. 
This reminds me of a letter that was sent to me yesterday that had been sent to the Prime Minister. It was from a businessman. He said that this Government just does not understand what the impact of the increased prices it is imposing on businesses will be. He said that he will be paying more GST on everything including his food. He will be paying more for his rent because of the changes in property taxes. His business will be paying more in road-user charges GST accident compensation and the rest of it. He said to Mr Key that he had been a National voter but he would be changing his vote next time because Mr Key has put his business out of business and has imposed more taxes on people that he promised he would never impose. 
I say to Mr Gilmore that the small gesture in the Nash amendment which brings rates into line with other things like 5-year finance leases is a way that we can give a little relief to hard-pressed New Zealanders and by God they need it! Half of all New Zealanders did not get a wage rise last year—half of all New Zealanders did not get a wage rise last year. The fat cats on the other side of the Chamber did. They got big tax cuts. The tax cut for the average New Zealander is about $13 a week while the costs imposed by this Government—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but members who are not in their own seats should not be barraging in the way that they are. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Those members should stop shouting stop showing their arrogance and listen to what their constituents are actually telling them. Their constituents are telling them that at a time when people have not been getting wage increases the rise in GST is the straw that will break the camel’s back. It will break their backs on top of things like the fact that most renters in Auckland are paying $20 a week extra before increases to property taxes are brought in. Most people who have children in early childhood education will be paying $20 to $30 a week more for each child. It is no wonder that the early childhood centre that John Key opened last year in Mangere—a low-income area—has sent a letter to the Government saying that it will have to charge $20 to $30 a week more for early childhood education but that the parents simply cannot afford it. 
Mr Gilmore arrogantly says that it is a small amount of money. We know that it is a small amount of money to Mr Gilmore and the Minister of Finance but then the Minister of Finance gave himself $48000 a year to rent his own home—$48000 a year to rent his own home. This is the Minister of Finance who tells us that New Zealanders should not worry about the increased costs that this Government is imposing on them daily. 
The rate of GST will be 15 percent. 
Craig Foss 
: Tell us about the 3 percent. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Does Mr Foss know what that rate makes consumption taxes in New Zealand? It makes New Zealand the fourth highest country in the world in terms of consumption taxes that a Government imposes on its people—the fourth highest in the world. What do we know about consumption taxes? We know that they fall heaviest on low and middle income earners. They will be paying a higher proportion of their income in consumption taxes while the income tax cuts to Mr Foss and Mr Brownlee will be in the hundreds of dollars—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Sorry to interrupt the member. Mr Foss you will either desist or sit in your own seat. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Thank you very much Mr Chair. Mr Foss and Mr Brownlee do not understand that when one is on a high income one gets big income tax cuts whereas the families that Labour talks about whom Stuart Nash is trying to help are ordinary New Zealanders who are finding that the cost of living is going up at a far faster rate than their wages. 
I ask Mr Brownlee what the Budget tells us. It tells us that the rate of inflation will be 5.9 percent by the end of this year. Well more than half of all New Zealanders did not get a wage increase last year. The National Government can spin all it likes but the fact of the matter is that New Zealanders will know when they go through the supermarket checkout and they will know even more in 37 days’ time that they have less in their pockets and not more as the Prime Minister told them.