Gilmore Aaron: Taxation (Tax Administration and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Gilmore Aaron: Taxation (Tax Administration and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:675;Page:20791] 
AARON GILMORE (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand and talk about some of the misinformation we have heard tonight on the Taxation (Tax Administration and Remedial Matters) Bill and respond to some of the comments. We have heard about Labour’s conspiracy theory its fear its hate and its envy. Its whole focus in a 127-page bill was on one page and that was the page with the provisions about gift duty. 
You see gift duty does not work for anybody but Labour is worried about it because it has the fear and envy that some people out there are ripping off the system. Well we have heard tonight that gift duty collects $400000 net in tax each year and we have heard some great conspiracy theories from the other side of the Chamber that the $70 million in compliance costs that is being paid to tax lawyers and accountants up and down the country each year may not be real. There are some fears about that. Well let us assume the cost was half of that or one-tenth of that. In any of those situations reducing costs to consumers is what this Government is all about and increasing efficiency for consumers is what this Government is about. 
Opposition members over there do not care about that. They care about creating some ideas of fear and conspiracy—whether in respect of money-laundering or anything else like that—and they seem to think that the existing legislative framework will not work. I think that is a bit of a worry. Those members are success haters and successful people do not like the Labour Party. I find that very strange indeed. 
Most of the stuff in this 127-page bill we are finishing off tonight is about portfolio investment entities (PIEs). We have land PIEs wholesale PIEs retail PIEs overseas foreign investment PIEs variable-rate PIEs and multi-rate PIEs. I have to say that we have not heard much about those tonight but we have heard a lot about one page in the 127-page bill: the issue around gift duty. Maybe Labour members ate lots of pies during the dinner break and that is why they are focused on one particular page. 
This bill is good for New Zealand. It reduces costs to mums and dads up and down the country. They will save $70 million in fees for just one page in this legislation. They will have the ability through the changes in the PIE rates here through their KiwiSaver accounts to save significant money through investments. But the prior member pointed out and believed that this bill had no benefits for mums and dads. Well I can tell Mr Burns that lots of mums and dads invest in PIEs and they will benefit significantly out of the tax changes in this bill despite the comments of that member. 
Finally the nature of the fear and envy that exists tells us a lot about what goes through the minds of the Labour members. They are worried about one paragraph in a 127-page bill. They are not worried about growth and reducing costs to taxpayers up and down the country; they are worried about one paragraph in a 127-page bill. That paragraph would probably put out of work a whole bunch of tax accountants and lawyers up and down the country. They make on average about $500000 a year and this bill will reduce compliance costs by $70 million a year. Those people could be gainfully employed doing something productive and enterprising in New Zealand and that is what we want to see—not them running around trying to cheat the taxpayers in relation to tax codes. 
All the fear and envy that those members have put forward is covered by other legislation and we heard from the Minister of Revenue earlier tonight that that is taken into account. So for the people listening out there who have heard those members the people who are worrying about the transfer of assets I say that it has all been taken into account—from money-laundering through to relationship property and everything in between. It is a shame and a misfortune that some of the comments from the Opposition tonight have been putting fear in the good people of New Zealand. I think that is a shame. 
This is a good bill. It will reduce the cost to New Zealand and it is another step in the right direction for a Government that is looking at reducing costs to mums and dads out there.