O'Connor Damien: Taxation (Annual Rates Returns Filing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
O'Connor Damien: Taxation (Annual Rates Returns Filing and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 18 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5354. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Chairman. Indeed I relish the opportunity to take another call and on Part 5 of this bill the Taxation (Annual Rates Returns Filing and Remedial Matters) Bill. “Consistently inconsistent” is I think the term we used on the previous part. Actually I do not mind if I am a little consistently inconsistent myself in that I am in two minds when it comes to clauses 154 to 157. That is about the 50 percent increase in tax that is being imposed through this. 
I guess if I can be inconsistent I suppose firstly I would have to praise this. I have to say that this is a good move because it is increasing the contribution to KiwiSaver. But then I have to be inconsistent and say that unfortunately it seems to run counter to everything else we hear from the National Party in this House which is that tax is the root of all evil tax is the beginning of the end and the more we reduce it the more the economy can grow. That is what we hear. It is ideology from idiots. We keep hearing it. I would have to say that one of the classics is Mr Colin King sitting over there because as a traditional farmer he believes that without truly analysing it. 
We need to pay taxes to invest in good things. This 50 percent increase in taxation being imposed by the National Government here is actually a good thing because it ups the level of contribution to KiwiSaver a scheme that Mr King and many of his colleagues would have called communism. Mr McKelvie would have said the same thing—KiwiSaver was communism forcing people to do what they did not want to do with their money. That is what many of the farmers around the place think because they have listened to the drivel coming out of the National Party for years and years and years. 
Farmers understand smart investment when they see it. They also understand the value of KiwiSaver and of investing in our future. If we had not been sucked in as selfish idiots back in the 1970s and had not listened to and believed Robert Muldoon in wanting to have our cake and eat it too we would have a sound superannuation scheme and be a whole lot better off. We would be right up there with the Australians in terms of the level of investment income. But dare I say it—and I am a farmer from a farming background but a Labour Party farming background thank God which has given me hopefully a little bit more wisdom—the traditional farmers like Mr McKelvie and Mr King there who got sucked into Robert Muldoon thought they could have their cake and eat it too so they voted him in and voted superannuation out. Later under Michael Cullen and a Labour Government when we finally got brave enough and got to the point where we could afford to start investing in real superannuation again the National Party of course opposed it time and time again in this House. 
Dr David Clark 
: They’re still in their Muldoon mode. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: They are and of course they have sold this idea that you can have your cake and eat it too—we can sell off our assets and have this wonderful country going forward. That is ideology continued ideology from the National Party. The other one is the mantra that with lower taxes we will all be better off and the economy will grow. Yet it is increasing taxes 50 percent here which I think is a good thing. So I am a bit inconsistent myself—I accept that. 
What Part 5 is also doing is increasing a fee from $50 to $150. Fancy that—a 200 percent increase in a tax a compliance cost the thing that the two farmers over there have rallied against and campaigned against and ranted and raved about. Yet here they are part of the Government and I bet those two members are going to vote for this piece of legislation which in clause 172(1) increases the fee in regulation 9(1)(a) from $50 to $150. Let the country be aware of what is happening under the nose under the direction of the National Government. 
There is another one. That is right: it does not stop there. There is another regulation that allows for an increase in fee from $30 to $75. That is a 150 percent increase. Can I say that there are literally dozens if not hundreds of these little increases right across the National-ACT Government’s oversight and governance of this country. And people wonder why their costs are going up. 
I go back to another part of Part 5 and ask a question and hopefully the Minister in the chair the Minister of Defence might get up and answer this. When I first came into Parliament in the 1990s when National was in Government I have to say one of the most common issues raised in my electorate offices was that of child support. It is unfortunately one of the challenges in New Zealand society. This Government is moving on that it says. It is going to force solo mums and solo parents back to work. [ 
Interruption 
] Thank you Mr Chair but it does relate to child support because I am asking questions about what this might mean the changes here for those—and I will quote from the amendment to the Child Support Act—“to whom section 33A of the Tax Administration Act 1994 applies”. My guess is that this does alter the taxation regime relating to child support or the liabilities of each or both of the parents. I would appreciate some explanation on it. I know there is a review under way. I do not know what this part relates to. I have asked my colleague who has not been able to clarify it. Maybe the Minister will. 
The point I am making is that it is rightfully one of perhaps the most responsible areas of legislation that we should get right and that is to ensure that every child in this country has the right level of support from either or both parents—enough support to make sure that they get a fair go. I think that is the simplest way. 
There are amendments occurring here in this piece of legislation. The vast majority of people who may still be awake who might have their TVs on and are trying to work out what is going on here will not know perhaps what we are changing here. But can I say if there is a consistency here it is that if you are a poor solo parent the chances are the National Government has kicked you in the guts once again. Most changes— 
Colin King 
: Tell us about the $8 billion we spend looking after those people. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: That member will not admit it but he knows it is true. Most changes that have occurred from this Government have been about kicking solo parents. 
Colin King 
: Get out of the West Coast and into the real world. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Oh they get a bit touchy here because they know it is true. They know it is true. That is right. GST has increased. Here we are and the beneficiaries the same solo parents the parents whom child support applies to are being told “one strike and you’re out”. Of course as a criminal you can have three strikes. Funny that. Three strikes for a criminal; one strike for some poor person who is trying to bring up their child who has to be on a benefit to try to protect their child. This is outrageous. This is Toryism to the core and it is about time we got it right. 
The Chairperson is rightfully pulling me back into the Child Support Act. I do not know what this change means. It is a technical change written into this piece of legislation and I am concerned that it might make it harder and that each and every one of us as MPs on both sides of the House might be asked at a clinic on a Friday—we usually have them; I do not know about the National members—what is going on here. I would just like to hear an explanation from the Minister who I am sure has a handle on what is happening here. He probably believes he is doing the right thing but if he looks at the National Government’s record it is not. 
In conclusion I have to say that the changes here to KiwiSaver in my view are an increase in taxation. National when opposing us in the implementation of KiwiSaver railed and ranted against what we were trying to do. It then cut the contribution of course and it is now lifting it again. 
House resumed. 
The Chairperson reported progress on the Taxation (Annual Rates Returns Filing and Remedial Matters) Bill and no progress on the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill and the Legislation Bill. 
Report adopted.