Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Mr Chair. I think those are some very good questions from my colleague the Hon David Bennett asking questions about whether Minister Parker is actually going to give the public transparency around the actual tax rates that we are paying in comparison to other countries. It's one thing for the Government to come in here and try to confirm the tax rates and say that Oh we're paying low taxes here in New Zealand" but he continues to hide the fact that in New Zealand it's not just the income taxes: it's the GST it's the fuel excise it's all of the other taxes and regulations and the impact that they have on New Zealanders which actually need to be compared if he's going to be open and transparent in this debate here in this committee.I come here as the member of Parliament for Pakuranga and the hard-working people of my community who are facing a cost of living crisis here in New Zealand. Members on that side of the House might say "Oh well the people out there they earn plenty of money." Well I'm sorry someone earning $70000 $80000 $90000 on average wages in New Zealand is actually struggling with the cost of living crisis that we are facing in New Zealand. Average rents: up $150 under this Government. Petrol prices: over $3 a litre. Food prices: up 14 percent. And we have not seen any tax relief ever given by this Government when it comes to our income taxes. I actually don't remember ever—yesterday was probably the first time in my life that a Labour Government's actually ever cut any form of tax that I can recall. Andrew Bayly: That's how desperate.SIMEON BROWN: That's how desperate they must be: first time I've ever seen it. But the point about it: it's only temporary. It's for three months. That's as much as they could give: a three-month temporary cut to the excise for fuel. The point I'm making here is that what we've seen over the last number of years is the increase in inflation and how that continues to put pressure on people's real incomes after tax and pushes people up into higher tax brackets and means that effectively they go home with less in their back pockets less to spend on the necessities that they need to pay less that they need to be able to pay the bills and do all of the things that they need to be able to do. So the question that the Government needs to answer is: are they ever going to consider any form of indexation of the tax brackets? Are they ever going to think about any form of trying to shift the tax brackets to take into account the effect of inflation or is this Government going to sit on the side and constantly let inflation eat into the back pockets of New Zealanders eat into their after-tax income meaning that they're effectively left poorer under this Government? I can tell you I get the sense this Government is rather going to sit on the side where they are going to take as much as they can because they like doing three things. They like taxing. Tax tax tax—any tax that they can try to take and any amount of money they will do it. They spend like drunken sailors. I just listened to my colleague Andrew Bayly listing off just a few examples of some of the absolute wastage of money under this Government. Tens of millions of dollars—they just blink an eyelid. The Minister of Transport stood up this afternoon and he said in response to $50 million being spent on the Auckland cycle bridge "Oh well I'm a little bit disappointed we didn't quite get the outcome that we were after." Fifty million dollars: for most New Zealanders that is an eye-watering sum of money. The people on the other side the Government members on the other side need to remember: that is not your money. That is taxpayers' money. They are the ones who work hard every single day and they pay their taxes expecting some benefit for it not for it to be thrown down the drain in some form of experiment which is what we're seeing far too often. Fifty million dollars! Let's Get Wellington Moving—$35 million I heard Andrew Bayly say; $35 million for consultants. Let's Get Wellington Moving sounds like it's "Let's Get Wellington Consulting". Well there's probably already too much consulting happening and not enough doing and that's another problem that we can discuss on another day with this Government. The reality is New Zealanders are facing a cost of living crisis. There is a need to adjust those tax brackets in a way which gives New Zealanders some tax relief at this incredibly challenging time—not what we just saw from the Government yesterday which was a small concession that there's an issue but actually addressing the question and the issue properly."