Clark David: Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11545. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North): We will be supporting this bill on this side of the House—not because it is true to its title in being truly transformational but because we support the small steps in it towards simplification and towards making our tax system more robust. Actually across the House we like a robust tax system. I think there is a shared view that our tax system should be broad-based and fair and should encourage people to pay their fair share. What we on this side consider to be a fair share and what they over that side consider to be a fair share might be different and might be differently spread but we all agree that we need a tax system to afford those things that New Zealanders really care about: health education and so on—the stuff of Budgets.Of course it has to be said also that although there are some simplification measures in here there are things that are not addressed that should have been addressed in this bill. We could have had a fairer tax system overall. We could have had a system that worked for middle New Zealand not just the wealthiest New Zealanders which seems to be what this Government is hell-bent on achieving—a system that really is tilted towards those people who are engaged in the Panama Papers and so on. We on this side of the House would like nothing more than to have a fairer tax system where everybody pays their fair share and where opportunity exists for middle New Zealand to get ahead but that unfortunately is something that is becoming increasingly difficult. We know we have got the lowest homeownership rates in New Zealand in 60 years I think it is—50 or 60 years—and that is a disgrace. We would like to see more done in that area. We would like to see the health cuts that this Government has put through stop. We would like to see schools funded properly—you know getting the basics right rather than a focus on the super-rich.Among the issues that have been raised in the Committee stage was one of particular concern about whether the Government is able to implement this bill. I was pleased to see the Government putting some money towards the transformation project that the Inland Revenue Department is undertaking and I congratulate the Minister Michael Woodhouse on progress in that area. It has been a long time coming and it is good to see some genuine progress being made. Time will tell what that system looks like and how well the money is being spent but I do wish to offer my congratulations on the early steps to my colleague who also resides in Dunedin.We will be supporting this bill as I have said from the beginning. We have concerns about the overall fairness of the tax system the rating drop in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index and the way the tax system could be made better but we do support the incremental steps being made here to make sure that breaches in our tax system are covered over and to make sure people can interact more easily with the tax system. We see that in this bill for example in allowing electronic communications where previously only a letter sufficed; that is bringing the tax system into the modern age. We do support that. Thank you.