Tremain Chris: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — First Reading Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTremain Chris: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — First Reading Second Reading[Sitting date: 09 December 2008. Volume:651;Page:101. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier): Tihei mauri ora. Whakataka te hau ki te uru whakataka te hau ki te tonga. Kia mākinakina ki uta kia mātaratara ki tai. E hī ake ana te ata kura he tio he huka he hauhunga. Tēnā koutou. E te Kaikōrero o te Whare tēnā koe. Kei te mihi ahau ki a koe. Ki ngā mema Pāremata tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Behold the sneeze of life. Cease the wind from the west cease the wind from the south. Let the breezes blow over the land let the breezes blow over the ocean. Let the red-tipped dawn come with a sharpened air a touch of frost and a promise of a glorious day. Greetings to you collectively and to you Mr Assistant Speaker of the House. Greetings. To members of Parliament greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to us all.]We have just heard a speech from the ex-honourable Clayton Cosgrove. It was an angry speech. He started his speech by saying that this bill—Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Cosgrove is the Hon Clayton Cosgrove. To describe him in the way the member did is an insult to the House and to the Prime Minister who has written to Mr Cosgrove to indicate that that title continues.Hon Dr Nick Smith: I just point out to the Labour Opposition that continuously during Mr Clayton Cosgrove’s speech he referred to members on this side of the House as plonkers and called them all sorts of other derogatory names. For Opposition members now to get all precious because the member did not use the term “the Hon Clayton Cosgrove” is rather rich and unnecessary.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker): No if the member took umbrage he should have raised a point of order at the time and had the matter clarified then. It is far too late now. The point of order has been well made and I ask the member to keep that in mind when he addresses the House.CHRIS TREMAIN: Members of the public will be interested to hear the speech made by the Hon Clayton Cosgrove who stood up and said that this bill was the second-biggest example in his small scholarly history of economic vandalism that he had seen. He said that the KiwiSaver changes would be economic vandalism. I want to understand what part Mr Cosgrove does not understand about taking the entry level from 4 percent to 2 percent. Taking the entry level from 4 percent to 2 percent is what the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions representatives stood in front of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and asked for right from the word go. What will happen is that it will promote more people into KiwiSaver.It should be understood that of the 800000 people Clayton Cosgrove so diligently referred to only one in five are employees. In fact a heck of a lot—over 120000—are under the age of 18. This Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill will get more Kiwis more hard-working New Zealanders into KiwiSaver and it will actually promote saving. Perhaps members might want to reflect on the claim that this is the second-biggest example of economic vandalism in the world. I think it will promote saving in this country and take this nation forward.As I commence this speech on the Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill I acknowledge and congratulate you on your role as Assistant Speaker. I also acknowledge the election of the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith and I am sure he will takethis House forward. I also acknowledge the election of Assistant Speaker Eric Roy and Deputy Speaker Lindsay Tisch.In my opening whakataukī I used a proverb that sets the scene for this first legislation under this new National Government to hit the floor. The proverb as translated says: “Cease the winds from the west cease the winds from the south let the breezes blow over the land with a sharpened air a touch of frost and a promise of a glorious new day.” Just over 4 weeks ago New Zealanders elected a new Parliament and a new Prime Minister. Interestingly the Opposition has not quite got the hang of that yet. John Key brings a fresh aspirational approach to this country for which many people have been looking for 9 long years. Even people who were misguided by Labour’s “you can’t trust them” message are waking up to the fact that this is a leader who will really drive our country forward. Here we see legislation on the floor within 4 weeks of our entering into Government taking this nation forward.I take the opportunity to thank the people of Napier and Wairoa for placing their trust in me for another 3 years. It is indeed a privilege and an honour to be representing the people of Napier and to be here tonight introducing legislation to the House that we committed to over the election. It is about building trust. It is about doing what we say we will do. I stood on platforms throughout the Napier seat and in other seats talking about introducing tax cuts and this is what we are doing. Within a short period of entering this Parliament we have brought tax cuts to the table and we are building trust and it is going forward—fantastic.It is not the first example of our getting on with the job quickly because we have been doing it from day one. Within 2 weeks of the election we held negotiations with three other coalition parties and put together a historic agreement with the Māori Party—an excellent start. We delivered a new Cabinet with six women—Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is the first reading debate of a tax bill. I know that it has been slightly wider than that occasionally but this member now for about the last 2 minutes of his speech has not mentioned the Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill and appears to have borrowed someone’s notes for the Address in Reply debate. I ask you to bring him back to the bill.CHRIS TREMAIN: This is a wide-ranging debate a first reading speech and I believe I have the scope. I have been referring to the bill throughout.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker): It is a wide-ranging debate but it is about the Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill and I think the member could speak a little bit more about that.CHRIS TREMAIN: This is the first tranche of a range of legislation that we are bringing to the House. The Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill delivers on the first part of our plan. It totally contradicts the campaign run by the Opposition which said that a new National Government could not be trusted. Well here we are building that trust delivering quickly upon what we said we would. We will continue to build that trust delivering upon a package of commitments through our 100-day plan further building trust.This bill is critical legislation at a time when the world economy is in turmoil. It is the first step of many to bring New Zealand back on track to a high-growth economy. I cannot overstate the importance of a tax regime that is functional fair and that encourages growth. Coming back to the Hon Clayton Cosgrove’s point about being fair here we are with tax legislation for 600000 hard-working Kiwis in the engine room of this nation who have not had a tax cut until the last few months who over the last 9 years have gone through bracket creep and who have crept into higher tax brackets and paid more and more tax. This is fair legislation. This is delivering tax cuts to the engine room of this country. I cannot overstate the importance of this legislation going forward.Taxes affect people’s decisions to work to save to spend to invest to migrate or to immigrate. There is no doubt in my mind that taxes have a huge impact on economic growth and future prosperity. Here we are today once again in short time bringing together new tax legislation to the House. In my province of Napier we are really feeling the pinch at the moment.Hon Dr Michael Cullen: It’s not a province.CHRIS TREMAIN: In my province of Hawke’s Bay and in the city of Napier we are really feeling the pinch at the moment. Did you guys actually go around during the election and talk to businesses and people in your electorates? Clearly you did not.Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know that you did visit businesses but I think that that should not be brought into debate by that member.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker): The point is made. Mr Speaker spoke about the use of “you” during debate.CHRIS TREMAIN: In the city of Napier we are really feeling the pinch. Businesses are hurting. When I walk down the main street of Napier businesses and retailers are 8 to 12 percent back and really hurting. Our exporters out there have had orders cancelled and even orders sent back. It is hurting. We have a choice in life. We can take a defeatist attitude and say that everything is outside our control or we can take a proactive attitude and start doing a range of things that address the financial crisis we currently face.The bill takes a proactive approach in four key ways. Firstly it adjusts the income tax threshold. It delivers on our promise to hard-working Kiwis to allow them to keep more of their hard-earned money. That is what we stood for at the election and promised and what we have talked about for the last 9 years. And here we are within 4 weeks of being elected as the Government delivering on our promises. What the Opposition does not like is that we are building more and more trust as we go on and delivering upon our promises. The Opposition is really struggling with that. The effect of the Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill will be to reduce personal taxes from April 2009. This new legislation will be passed by Christmas and it will equip New Zealanders with some much-needed extra cash in tough economic times. I certainly know that in my city of Napier and in my province of Hawke’s Bay these tax cuts will provide some extra fiscal stimulation. It will not be the silver bullet but it will be a step in the right direction. Personal taxes will be reduced on 1 April 2009.