SpeechHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm sure the constituents of the member for Taieri including I don't know a resident in Middlemarch who occasionally rents out their house when there's a big event on in the region—Chris Penk: It's the middle of March now!Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: —that's right middle of—oh pah tish!—or the part-time Uber driver in Mosgiel might be surprised to learn that the member for Taieri thinks that they are somehow part of the so-called platform economy. They are simply people trying to make a small income and work within the tax rules that apply. Now I accept the point the member has made that it is necessary to modify the tax system to accommodate the fact that commerce has changed. And I was the Minister of Revenue in 2016 when the first GST that applied to effectively weightless goods came into effect: if one buys music or apps or something on iTunes that's an imported product that previously hadn't been subject to GST and now there is a framework for enabling that. That is consistent with our broad based - low rate tax system. What's not consistent is that if anybody else makes a living—a small augmentation to their income where their turnover is less than $60000 from whatever source—they are not subject to the GST registration regime. But this bill does exactly that. It's hardly administratively efficient it's not equitable—and I will come to equity in the context of Airbnb that Ingrid Leary mentioned—and there's this weird kind of credit-back of 8.5 percent which completely throws out the previously I think quite pure GST system that we had. Now there are issues that some hoteliers and moteliers around New Zealand have with people who are widespread Airbnb users but often those issues are actually about compliance with hotel rules and local council by-laws. It wasn't pointed out to me that the biggest inequity was GST. This is a solution looking for a problem and I would be very surprised if it did anything other than drive people off those platforms and enable them to advertise their accommodation or do their part-time driving duties on other means—the notice up on the local dairy for a bed and breakfast or a bach or a crib. That's going to drive us away from the technology. But I'll at least give the Minister of Revenue credit for finally mentioning what this bill does most and that is confirm the rates for 2022-23 because he's been a bit evasive about that in previous readings and in the committee of the whole House. And what Ingrid Leary says is Well this is just confirming what we always do." That's true but an omission is as important as an act if it serves to take money out of the pockets of hardworking New Zealanders through the thief of inflation. And the only beneficiary of that inflation is the Minister of Finance because he has benefited to the tune of billions and billions of dollars as income goes up but tax thresholds don't. And so doing nothing is an action and it's an action that is harming New Zealanders. And that is the number one reason why National will continue to oppose this bill. And we heard it again from both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance in question time today that they think they can spend money better than taxpayers can and that somehow when they spend it it's not inflationary. But when we commit to giving it back to New Zealanders so they can choose to save or spend or retire debt that is somehow inflationary. And that I think treats the New Zealand taxpayer like an idiot and that's consistent with a track record of a "we know best" Government that is imposing stupid rules through this bill and punitive tax thresholds that are a thief in the pockets of New Zealand taxpayers. We can't support this but we can say to New Zealanders: help is on the way; a centre-right Government elected after 4 October would treat New Zealanders' money much better than this lot will. And we will change those thresholds. We will have a different bill this time next year."