Wagner Nicky: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Wagner Nicky: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11107] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I am enormously pleased to be supporting the Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill in the second reading debate. Today’s Budget is a cracker. It promotes growth and competitiveness and provides the right incentives for Kiwis to work to save and to invest. This bill cements these gains. It is good for New Zealand and it is good for future generations of New Zealanders. There has been a whole heap of wide-eyed histrionics from the Opposition: overzealous shouting red-hot rhetoric and numerous claims that are totally without basis or fiscal common sense. 
I will inject into the debate some independent factual analysis from financial specialists. My comments will be based on the regulatory impact statement prepared by Treasury and the Inland Revenue Department. Treasury and the Inland Revenue Department understand our economy. Their job is to give independent financial advice to the Government. This is what they say in their regulatory report: “officials from Inland Revenue and Treasury both agree that … the … tax reform package as a whole will …”—contrary to Lianne Dalziel’s statement—“achieve a step up in economic growth by improving incentives to work save and invest”. New Zealand needs this. They said it will “improve the fairness coherence and integrity of the tax system by reducing opportunities to avoid tax”. New Zealand needs this. They say it will “result in a tax system that supports New Zealand’s competitiveness globally in a sustainable manner.” New Zealand certainly needs this. This is what Bill English and the National-led Government set out to achieve and we have been successful. 
It was great to see that 80 percent of New Zealanders in the  
Close Up  
poll tonight supported this Budget. It was also very interesting to hear from Colin Espiner who said that this Budget was better than last year’s effort and probably trumped anything Labour came up with in the past 9 years. 
Let us have a look at this regulatory report. This report provides an index that analyses each taxation measure as to how it affects taxpayers and how it supports increased efficiency of the system improves equity within the system and strengthens the integrity of the system. All measures were rated as increasing efficiency and some such as removing the depreciation loading were rated as having significant improvements in efficiency. All measures were rated for equity. Again removing the depreciation loading gave a significant improvement in equity as did addressing the GST base maintenance that closes the loopholes for largely fraudulent taxpayers. All measures were rated for integrity. In this case the 60 percent thin capitalisation threshold the management of loss attributing qualifying companies and the GST base maintenance have significantly improved the integrity of the tax system. 
I repeat: today’s Budget—and this bill which implements it—is a cracker. It promotes growth and competitiveness and provides the right incentives for Kiwis to work to save and to invest. It is good for New Zealand and it is good for future generations of New Zealanders. I congratulate Bill English on a job well done.