Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): What an entitled ramble of twaddle that was. The world according to Todd McClay would be a sad little island of individualism and I would not want to be on it. But I am not going to be turned down because the borders are open and New Zealand is open for business once more. It's a time for good news. We need to prepare for the return to normal economic activity and that means ensuring that tax rules are appropriate and operating as intended.It's interesting that the member who has just resumed his seat Todd McClay was speaking about how this bill was going to stop Kiwis from keeping more of their hard-earned money when in fact a big part of this bill is fairing up the level playing field. Platform businesses that use things like Uber or overseas companies that are not paying GST in New Zealand is not doing it fair. So I would argue that those individuals are not Kiwis; they are overseas entities that need to pay their fair share of tax and GST in New Zealand.The platform economy in the bill refers to a new part of our economy. Using apps you can hail a car or get some Airbnb or get some food and it's only right and fair that they need to pay the GST that they should be paying operating in a New Zealand economy. As these platforms typically operate across borders and are based in other countries this information reporting and exchange measure will provide tax authorities with the information about the income earned by sellers on these platforms. It is critical to a smooth functioning of the tax system to know what's actually going on in it. But there's more in this bill. It does a whole lot more. It looks at also some really good benefits in terms of fringe benefits on public transport to make sure that we are making that trip from home to work—that there should be some good incentives for people to get out of their cars and use the excellent services that are local transport available right across New Zealand's main urban centres.Also it's fair to mention that homes built specifically as rentals can play a major part in providing for New Zealand's rental market. And while there are not enough affordable homes to buy there are also not enough affordable homes to rent. The objective of the interest limitation rules contained within this bill is distinctive to investor demand for existing properties and instead investment in new housing. Investment in rental housing is just as important as investment in houses for first-home buyers and it's only right and proper that we should make adjustments to make the tax system fairer in that space.I'd like to also point out that the Government wants to ensure that the tax system minimises the compliance cost on taxpayers. The tax system also needs to keep up with modern business practice and changes to developments abroad and it's really sad to see that the National Party is not interested in moving with the times. They don't want to take account of how the digital economy has evolved; they would much rather stay in the Dark Ages and give themselves all a tax cut so they've got some more money to spend on themselves. And that's largely what the whole modus operandi of the National Party is. I think that's rather sad.So what else does this great bill do? This bill also looks at some other areas that we need to tidy up to make the tax system fairer. It proposes to modernise and enable greater flexibility in the rules applying to the tax treatment of cross-border workers. It aims to clarify how pay as you earn withholding tax fringe benefit tax also employer superannuation contribution tax and non-resident contractor tax rules apply in relation to such workers. All these measures are needed to make sure that the playing field is even and it's working well.I'm proud to be part of a Government that is making our tax system keep up with modern business practices and change to new developments that we need to keep abreast of all that the digital economy is doing right now. I commend the bill to the House.