Smith Nick: Motor Vehicle Sales Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Smith Nick: Motor Vehicle Sales Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4754] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (NZ National—Nelson) 
: 
 Like my colleague Simon Power and Deborah Coddington I too want to express concern about the title of this bill and the sneaky Supplementary Order Paper that has been tabled by the Minister. Is it not interesting that this is a process around motor vehicle sales that is now 9 years old? For 9 years there have been discussions about changing the rules around motor vehicle sales and updating that 1975 Act. We then get to the last hurdle and under urgency this sneaky Government wants to clip an extra tax on to honest enterprising New Zealanders. I ask Mr Benson-Pope how many of his Dunedin car sales people have been consulted about this new tax? [ 
Interruption 
] He tells me. I would love to make contact because it will be just like the Minister in the chair the Hon Steve Maharey on the Tertiary Education Bill. At the last moment he snuck into the House a dirty little levy on all sorts of education providers. I suspect that that is why he is in the chair. He will do the same trick again and this time to the motor vehicle dealers. 
I ask the Minister in the chair what level of consultation there has been with the motor vehicle industry about this Supplementary Order Paper. I seek any answer from any member of the Government. I note that United Future supports the bill and the Supplementary Order Paper. Can its members advise me what level of consultation with the motor vehicle industry there has been on this bill? Can any member of the Government advise the Committee as to whether there has been a process of consultation with motor vehicle dealers about this new tax? 
Helen Duncan 
: Concentrate on the new leader! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I can see that Helen Duncan does not want to talk about the bill before the Committee. She is more interested in playing some silly political game than she is about the extra tax that will be imposed. This title is not particularly appropriate. If we are to have a bill that will impose a new tax that has been added through the Supplementary Order Paper on those people in the motor vehicle industry then members on this side will say what they mean. If that tax is to be imposed then let us call it a tax bill. If that is what the Government is to do with legislation of this sort let us truly describe what it is all about and describe this as a special tax bill for the latest group of entrepreneurs to be hammered by this Labour Government. 
John Carter 
: With additional compliance costs. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: That is right. I remember reading in Labour’s manifesto that it was to reduce compliance costs. I would be interested to know how— 
John Carter 
: What does the chair think of the tax? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I have to advise my chief whip that we must not bring the Chair into the debate. However I would like to know from the Minister in the chair how this bill contributes to reducing compliance costs. 
Sandra Goudie 
: Did they run it through the compliance cost report? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: There is a good question from my colleague the very capable MP for Coromandel. It is interesting that every bill that comes before the House has to have a compliance cost report but not for the Supplementary Order Paper that this Minister has now brought into the Committee stage not once but twice under urgency in terms of amendments to this bill. Members on this side of the Chamber tell the Government to be honest about what it is doing and to be honest about the fact that it is introducing a new tax on motor vehicle dealers. Let us call this bill what it is. The Minister may prefer to call it a levy. I notice that when Dr Cullen was in Opposition he said that a levy was just another name for a tax but if he had preferred to call it the “Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Bill” or the “Motor Vehicle Sales Levy Bill” we could live with either of those. I invite any member opposite to get to his or her feet and to justify the significant way in which this Supplementary Order Paper changes the bill and also to justify the fact that this bill has been around for a very very long time. Why are we under urgency rushing this bill through when there has not been consultation on the key changes with the dealers and those who are involved in the industry? Again I say let us change the title and say what it means.