Bennett David: Taxation (Residential Land Withholding Tax GST on Online Services and Student Loans) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Taxation (Residential Land Withholding Tax GST on Online Services and Student Loans) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 12 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10379. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): It is a great pleasure to talk on the Taxation (Residential Land Withholding Tax GST on Online Services and Student Loans) Bill. We are talking about the student loan scheme portion of the bill which is actually the smaller part of the bill. The bigger parts which we will come back to will be around other areas of the bill—the residential withholding tax and also the GST amendments—which probably will be more helpful for that last speaker Grant Robertson because he will actually be able to speak on the bill rather than to wander off and try to make political statements that are completely irrelevant to the actual bill that he is talking about.Dr David Clark: Don’t question the Speaker’s judgment.DAVID BENNETT: Oh the Speaker made no judgment Mr Clark—the only judgment is your judgment in your leadership so I would not be yelling out too much.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Back to the bill.DAVID BENNETT: When we look at the student loan scheme amendments section of the bill—this is the important part of it; not as important as the other two parts but still important. Most student loan borrowers do the right thing and they repay the amounts on their student loans.Hon Clayton Cosgrove: Did you pay yours back?DAVID BENNETT: What is that Mr Cosgrove? Well he will be paying back his soon—when he has to go and get a real job and do some real work other than working for the Labour Party. Most student loan borrowers repay their loans but when we have borrowers overseas we have a lower rate of compliance and so there is a lower rate of return to the New Zealand Government from overseas-domiciled New Zealand borrowers of student loans.Basically over the last few years you have seen some legislation in this area to try to claw back some of that student loan from borrowers who are overseas and to make sure that we get a better repayment from New Zealanders who have taken advantage of our education system and got a good education have gone overseas and got a good job and have not paid back their student loan to the extent that those who have been living in New Zealand have.This bill contains further amendments in that area notably around the arrangement of exchange of information regarding New Zealand student loans with our Australian counterparts—that is the Commissioner of Taxation in Australia and the Commissioner of Inland Revenue in New Zealand. Basically there will be a greater exchange of information. Many New Zealanders who study and then go overseas do go to Australia to work so that is one thing: there is a higher preponderance of people who have not paid back their student loans who are in Australia compared with other countries. This exchange of information will allow the Inland Revenue Department to receive up-to-date contact details for New Zealand student loan borrowers living in Australia through matching borrower details against the Australian Taxation Office records of Australian taxpayers. It is important for New Zealand’s tax base that we have that information and therefore we can go further in seeking repayment of those loans.The bill also has a few smaller things in it around delegation of authority for charitable purposes to acknowledge that some organisations that borrowers may be working for are charitable. Basically there are situations where borrowers may volunteer and go to work overseas. They are treated as if they were physically present in New Zealand so they do not have to pay interest on their student loans whereas if they had been treated as being overseas working for a voluntary organisation they could have then been seen as having to pay interest on their student loans. So taking into account those New Zealanders who make a contribution to the world through the volunteer work that they do we are making it easier for the student loan legislation to be more efficient in how it impacts on those members of our community. The student loan scheme changes will apply from enactment of this bill so that will enable us to have that sharing of information with the Australian Taxation Office immediately.This is not the most complicated part of the bill or the most debated part of the bill—you will see that more around the residential land withholding tax; I am sure that there will be more opinions on that area and also in regard to the GST on online services—but it is part of this bill it is part of that work around student loans to enable New Zealand to get the best return that we can for those people who have borrowed and have gone overseas and are getting the benefit of the student loan especially in the Australian context. Thank you very much.