McNair Craig: Taxation (Base Maintenance and MiscellaneousProvisions) Bill — First Reading 
McNair Craig: Taxation (Base Maintenance and MiscellaneousProvisions) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:622;Page:18059] 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 Last night before being interrupted I was talking about foreign-owned banks and the sad sad situation that we have in this country whereby all of a sudden and all because of past Labour and National administrations different State-owned enterprises were flogged off to foreign-owned enterprises. One example of that is our banks. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Disgusting! 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: As my colleague seated behind me said it was disgusting—nothing more and nothing less than that. But the sad thing about it was that successive Labour and National Governments not only sold the banks to foreign-owned enterprises but the banks then did not even pay the appropriate amount of tax that they should have paid. I say that that is a disgrace. 
Darren Hughes 
: Is the member a Kiwibank customer? 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: I remind members that there is actually another New Zealand - owned bank in this country as well as Kiwibank. With the sad loss of our now foreign-owned banks which the then Deputy Prime Minister sold off back in the mid-1980s and the National Government sold off in the 1990s we then had that situation. I remember speaking to taxation advisers a few months ago and they said that the situation has been going on for 5 years or so and that a taxation shortfall of something like $360 million has been occurring. I say that that is very very sad. It is a tragedy for our nation. 
This Government would have us believe we have an economic boom in this country when it is taxing individuals at up to 39c in the dollar in income tax if they are the so-called rich people on about $60000 a year. The tax is 33c in the dollar for companies and there are no taxation incentives or concessions for exporters especially when the exchange rate of the New Zealand dollar is at 70c against the US dollar. There is no economic boom I believe like the one that this Government would have us believe is occurring. The Minister of Finance and other Ministers in this House jump up and down and tell us how great everything is when they know that that is a load of hogwash in many ways. Our dollar is worth 70c against the US dollar and we have houses that young couples cannot get into or buy because the prices are too far beyond their reach. First home buyers— 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: What’s that got to do with the bill? 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: Oh it has a lot to do with this bill—[ 
Interruption 
] That is right. It is just unbelievable how relevant it is to this bill. When we talk about taxation and the amount of taxation that people are paying and when we look at the banks I have just talked about that have not been paying a sum that the Minister of Finance has said is about $360 million a year for a few years now we know that it has every relevance to this bill. It is very very relevant and that is a fact. 
Do members know why I want to talk about this bill? I want to talk about something that is very important regarding the vision of this Government. It all comes back to this kind of legislation that come through the House—the taxation bills. We are continually sliding down the OECD rankings. Australia is way ahead of us in those rankings and the Minister knows it. The average Australian earns about $120 a week more than the average Kiwi. That has every relevance to this bill because if the average New Zealander earns $120 a week less than the average Australian then the Government and individuals here in New Zealand are both worse off than their Australian counterparts. That Minister with all his intellect and wit still knows that that is right. He knows that.