Norman Russel: Taxation (Livestock Valuation Assets Expenditure and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Norman Russel: Taxation (Livestock Valuation Assets Expenditure and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 29 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6981. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I rise to speak on behalf of the Green Party on the first reading of this Government bill the Taxation (Livestock Valuation Assets Expenditure and Remedial Matters) Bill that has come before us this afternoon. The Green Party will be supporting the bill going to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. This bill makes a large number of changes to the Income Tax Act. Some of them are remedial in nature; some of them are in line with the changes proposed in Budget 2012. It covers such things as—and I am not going to go through all of them but some of them—tightening the rules for deducting the cost of assets such as holiday homes boats and aircraft used both privately and for business purposes. It also covers changes to the way livestock are valued which has been quite controversial; some significant changes to GST especially the way non-resident companies can claim GST credits; changes to the tax treatment of foreign currency hedging which I think I might get back to; a reduction to 4 years from 8 years of the period during which people can claim tax refunds; changes to the way that some farm capital expenditure is accounted for; and removal of the historic tax concessions for Tiwai Point—amongst many other remedial matters such as clarification of the term “dividend” for example. 
From our point of view this bill is a pretty complicated bill and covers a whole bunch of issues many of which we can support and that is why we are supporting it going through to the select committee. We do support a large number of the measures in the bill. Although I agree with the previous speakers that this certainly does not address some of the fundamental changes we need to make in tax policy in order to get a more productive economy none the less many of these changes are very sensible. Those that we query are those with significant fiscal risk. Some are in the order in terms of risk to the tax base of $10 million to $15 million per year so we will be looking at that legislation in the select committee to figure out whether we think those changes are worth it. 
The kinds of areas of concern for the Greens are around the tax treatment of foreign currency hedging. The concern here is that it will open up further opportunities for tax avoidance unless the Inland Revenue Department commits more resource into the area for monitoring and compliance. Secondly there is concern around the passing on of the cost of foreign companies claiming GST refunds back on to those companies. The question is whether we should be offering them a more transparent regime like they are doing in the UK. The participants in the Government’s Voluntary Bonding Scheme have gained a financial advantage and we want to have a look at that. Of course there is the reducing of the time in which you can claim a tax overpayment and whether it is fair in fact to reduce the time during which you can claim a refund. 
Many of the changes in this bill make a lot of sense and we will be supporting them through to the select committee. Some of them we are not so sure about which is why we want to have a closer look at them in the select committee. But we will be voting for the bill going through to the select committee. Thank you.