Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:621;Page:16223] 
6.  
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Is it Government policy to require all taxpayers to declare all income to the Inland Revenue Department and has she or her deputy asked the Hon John Tamihere whether he declared his reported “golden handshake” from the Waipareira Trust? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Acting Prime Minister) 
: 
 No because the law changed in 1998 in that respect. As to the latter part of the question I invite the member to look at the press statement from the Waipareira Trust today about the nature of the payment made. 
Rodney Hide 
: Is the Prime Minister telling the House that in the year in which John Tamihere received the golden handshake he filed no tax return? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Prime Minister has no knowledge— 
Rodney Hide 
: Ah! 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: If the member would like to make it that the Minister of Revenue can look at all of the tax returns of members of Parliament I suggest he asks a question along those lines. I would be quite interested to do that in some cases. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is the one and only warning today. 
Rodney Hide 
: The Acting Prime Minister never addressed the question. If John Tamihere had no obligation to declare his income then clearly he must have filed no tax return. My question was straightforward and I think it should be addressed. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Prime Minister is not responsible for any member of Parliament filing a tax return. The person is responsible for following the law. The law is actually quite clear and not what Mr Hide has been trying to pretend it is on radio over the last few days. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Did the Prime Minister read Mr Tamihere’s recent autobiography in which on page 3 he states that at university he “concentrated on commerce company and tax law”; and does she expect the House and the New Zealand public to believe that Mr Tamihere a legally trained fellow with chief executive officer experience did not have the knowledge to know that tax should have been paid on his golden handshake? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Firstly the issue around the nature of the payment is of course one for the inquiry. Secondly the issue is not— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Oh fudge it! 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Since that member got convicted he seems to have got even chirpier than he used to be. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister will withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It needs to be a matter of public record that I was never convicted. In fact if I had been your ruling would be quite different. It was a finding which is not a criminal matter. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I accept the member’s word on this occasion as I must and I will. Could the member repeat his supplementary question. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Did the Prime Minister read Mr Tamihere’s recent autobiography in which he states that at university he concentrated on commerce company law and tax law and does she expect the House and the New Zealand public to believe that Mr Tamihere with that background and his experience as a chief executive officer did not know that he had to pay tax on his golden handshake? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: What I would expect Mr Tamihere to know is that firstly if income is incurred during a tax year in which there was no other income and he had good reason to believe that tax was deducted at source he had no reason under law to make a tax declaration. [ 
Interruption 
] That is the law as passed by this Parliament and as proposed by Mr Birch the outgoing National Party Minister. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well is this a point of order? 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Yes it is a point of order. These are important questions and I think the Acting Prime Minister should treat them as serious questions and answer them that way. Everyone in this House knows that John Tamihere received income as a member of Parliament in the year that he received the golden handshake. It is a simple question for the Acting Prime Minister to answer. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The second time the Minister answered the question he most certainly addressed it and addressed it seriously. 
Rodney Hide 
: Is the Prime Minister therefore saying that in Mr Tamihere’s mind the $195000 was net of tax making this secret golden handshake which the public had been told Mr Tamihere would never take a gross amount of $320000 at the 39c rate meaning that Mr Tamihere’s secret golden handshake from the Waipareira Trust would be No. 2 in Helen Clark’s “decade of shame” that she campaigned on against the National Party? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I think the Opposition has to make up its mind whether these facts were known in 2000 and whether the deal was a secret one. But let us at least get some consistency in the attack coming through in this respect. No the member is wrong again on the tax law. If the income was derived during 1999-2000 the top tax rate was 33c and the member is grossing up by the wrong amount. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Does that mean that the Acting Prime Minister is saying that the payout was received in 1999-2000? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No no what is the point of order? 
Rodney Hide 
: Well it makes a difference in this way. If we are going to have this character stand up attack Nick Smith for his convictions and try to correct us he should have to justify what he is saying. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well the Minister gave an answer and he has to stand by it in this House and he does. There are ways of dealing with that if members are not satisfied. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can the Acting Prime Minister explain to the House if the payment was received in the year 2001 is it taxed according to the rules in 2001 or is it taxed according to the rules when the payment was first mooted; if that is the case can others forward-project their income to avoid higher tax rates? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I am sorry to disappoint the member showing his natural Tory instincts but no. This is a matter in relation to when the income is derived not when the income is received. If members are going to ask technical tax questions they had better bone up on the tax law first.