Bennett David: Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 03 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7599. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): That last speech by Grant Robertson was by somebody who is completely out of his depth in the finance area and who should really just switch to being a lecturer in art history because that seems to be about his level. He would have no idea about purchasing a property. Probably half his caucus would have no idea about purchasing a property. The speech was completely full of inaccuracies and it misled the New Zealand public and I am going to put them straight now so that they know what is actually going on and do not listen to the waffle from the other side from somebody who has got no idea about finance. Everybody knows he is completely out of his depth and he is doing it to take down Andrew Little to show how ineffective the Labour Party is.Putting that aside in New Zealand if somebody sells a property within 10 years there is an intention test and that—Grant Robertson: It’s not working. That’s why you put the bill up.DAVID BENNETT: Just listen—just listen. As the member over there might want to do just listen and learn. The thing is there is an intention test and that test has a 10-year rule: if someone buys or sells a property within 10 years that person can be subject to tax on that sale. And there is the test around the intention at the time of purchase. Looking at the Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill we are clarifying that intention test and saying that if somebody buys and sells within 2 years without it being their main home then they are automatically deemed to be selling within a taxable range. So there is no change to the existing rules. That speculators as that member said were exempt from this is not true. That is not the case. Speculators are caught under the intention test. That is the very nature of their business—they are speculators. They buy and sell speculating on property therefore their intention is such and therefore they are taxable. Some members on the other side need to listen to the rules around taxation and not put out to the public some inaccuracies around speculative rules around land sales.If we look at what that member was really saying he was saying that it could have been the beginning of something useful. It was a political response he called it. Well I remember the Labour Party when it was the last election with something it thought was useful and that was the capital gains tax—a full-blooded capital gains tax. That member wants that capital gains tax. He does not agree with their leader and he is saying that it could have been the beginning of something useful. That would have been the full-blown capital gains tax that the Labour Party members went to the last election with and subsequent to the last election have thrown out. They have decided that they are not going to do it because one it does not work and two the public does not want it.The members opposite should not go around this country misleading New Zealanders and saying that this piece of legislation does not catch speculators because they are caught under the intention test already in reality. This legislation deems those purchases and sales within that first 2 years as being taxable. That is the effect of this legislation. There is an exemption for your main home and everybody would want to see that exemption. Even if you had the full-blown capital gains tax that the Labour Party talked about it would have an exemption for the main home. There are also exemptions for certain changes in circumstances: for example a marriage break-up—something like that that has not been anticipated. If the matrimonial property agreement for example comes into force then this legislation would not affect that situation. So there are exemptions there but they are for circumstances that would not be foreseen in the natural course of somebody’s life and would not be the intention of that person at the time when they purchased the home.This is an important part of the suite of legislation that is looking at housing issues. It is an important part of sending a signal to New Zealanders around the treatment of housing tax gains and losses. And it is an important part of sending the right message out there and it should not be used by the Opposition in this Parliament for political gain. It should not be used by the Opposition to mislead the public of New Zealand. It does not enable speculators to get away without paying tax. It does not as the last member said create a situation that is unfair to New Zealanders. The real message from the previous member is that he is firmly in the camp of having a capital gains tax. He wants a full-blown capital gains tax. That is what that last speaker said in his speech. That is what you can take out of it. The New Zealand First Party members can laugh but they actually agree with that. New Zealanders beware: the Labour Party still wants a capital gains tax. Its finance spokesperson came into this House today and said that he wanted a capital gains tax. That is what he said in his speech. New Zealanders beware of that because that is the true message of what he said in that last speech. Thank you.