Seymour David: Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSeymour David: Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 12 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:8009. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): We are indeed a House of Representatives and was that last speech from Marama Davidson not 5 minutes of raging self-righteousness with very little to do with the bill? This bill is a public policy abomination. It is one the ACT Party will be supporting because it is a Budget commitment and supporting Budget commitments helps to keep those people over there in Opposition and these people over here in Government. From what we have just heard—I thought the bill was important before Marama Davidson’s speech but now I think it is absolutely vital to the future of this country.The Labour members may be interested to know that I have just been reading a lot about the Rt Hon Norman Kirk. Was Labour not a great party when it was led by him? I think most famously he said that New Zealanders want somewhere to live someone to love somewhere to work and something to hope for. I think it is a very important question for New Zealand in 2015—why is it that it has become so much harder for a society vastly more technically sophisticated than we were 40 years ago to provide places that people wish to live in at prices they are able to afford? Some people may say the answer is “Don’t have seven kids if you’re not entirely sure that you can afford to support them.” but other people would say that at least it should be easier to afford homes than it was 40 years ago. Some people say: “Oh it’s because of the free market.” Well what sort of free market is it when the Government has the monopoly on planning—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I was as the member pointed out relatively lenient on the previous speaker who is a new speaker with regard to relevance. This member is an experienced member now and the leader of a party and he will follow the rules and speak to the bill.DAVID SEYMOUR: I am differentiating between supply side and demand side measures when it comes to attacking housing affordability. It is worth stating that in the Auckland region we built 5000 houses a year throughout the 1990s and only 4000 in the past decade. That is the material reason for a lack of housing affordability in Auckland. I think it is worth noting that it is not a free market when it is the Government that is responsible for providing the infrastructure.This bill is a bill that will do nothing to help with housing affordability in Auckland because nobody ever built more houses in order to pay more tax. That is what at best might happen as a result of this bill but as we heard in the excellent submissions to the Finance and Expenditure Committee even that is going to occur to an extent less than what real estate agents I know earn in fees—less than $5 million a year in projected revenue. That reflects the fact that as we heard in submissions we are only going to take in revenue from those who own a second house find themselves stranded and really cannot sell. Everybody else who is involved in serious property investment will easily manage their affairs to avoid a 2-year brightline test.It is with some regret but suffice to say as demonstrated by the previous speaker some considerable necessity that I support this Budget measure of the brightline test. But let it be put on record that this tax is the acorn of a capital gains tax. It is a measure that will grow from 2 years to 5 to 10 to 15 years. You watch: it will eventually apply to a wider range of homes. It is the acorn that the National Party has planted that will grow into a full-blown capital gains tax. From the point of view of those of us who believe in simple market-oriented policies and those of us who want rational public policy for New Zealand this will be viewed as a very dark day indeed. Thank you.