Hide Rodney: Third Readings 
Hide Rodney: Third Readings 
[Volume:613;Page:10170] 
RODNEY HIDE (ACT) 
: 
The ACT party will be opposing the Taxation (Annual Rates of Income Tax 2003-04) Bill. We will be doing so because taxes in this country are too high. I know that Mr Craig McNair will appreciate this point of history but I am old enough to remember—and I think John Key is old enough to remember—when the Labour Party stood for the working person in New Zealand. When Norm Kirk came to power he stood for working families. 
Craig McNair 
: I read that in the history books. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Craig McNair has read that Norman Kirk and the Labour Party stood for the working person and for everyday New Zealanders. Norman Kirk would be shocked at this Government. When was the last time we heard someone from this Government get up in the House and ask: “What about the worker?” No one on the Government side can say that. Why? They would be embarrassed to ask “What about the worker?”. I do not think anyone on the front bench has met or talked to a worker in this country. The situation is that New Zealanders are now working harder than ever before they are paying more money to their Government than ever before and they are getting less service from that Government than ever before. We have forgotten in this Parliament—and this Government has forgotten—who provides the wealth. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: It’s the workers. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: To hear Dr Cullen speak one would get the sense that he provided the wealth of this country. He stands up in this House pats himself on the back and says: “Oh look at my surplus.” That surplus has been bought and paid for by taxpayers. I hear David Cunliffe call out it is produced by the workers. Yes it is produced by the workers and we say: “Shame on you! Shame on this Government! Shame on Dr Cullen!”. Is it not about time that the working families in this country were given a pay increase and were allowed to have more in their budget by being provided with some tax relief? This is the history of New Zealand: taxes up taxes up taxes up. Who is paying for it? Mr Cunliffe is quite right—I just wish he would act on it. It is the working people of New Zealand. 
And Mr Copeland is quite right because it is the top rate of tax that determines the cost of capital in New Zealand in part and it is a policy variable that we can change. If we want to prosper we have to get taxes down. We have to make it more worthwhile to work invest and be entrepreneurial in New Zealand. It does not matter too much what the rate in Australia is. The lower we can get our tax rate the better and the more competitive New Zealand will be. Henry Ford was successful in the car-making business not because he made a car that was the same as everyone else’s but because he made a car that was much better than everyone else’s. That is what we should be doing with our tax rate—not having an argument like Mr Cunliffe and Mr Tamihere like to have about how we are about the same as Australia. No no no; we want to be so much better than Australia and therefore to grow our economy. 
Mr Cunliffe stood up in this House—I know people listening will be interested in this because I think people listening actually will understand this—and said that it does not matter if we tax people hard and it does not matter whether we tax them more because they will still work the same. He has only ever seen one study; he said it was not conclusive—it sounded like a sociological study. He said that if we tax people hard they will still work just as hard and they will still invest here. Does that make sense? Do we not put tax on cigarettes and alcohol so that people will smoke and drink less? Is it not the case that if we tax people for working they will be discouraged from working? Why? Because they will get to keep less of what they produce. Does it not make sense that if we tax the returns of people who save and invest in New Zealand they will save and invest less? 
Who confronts the largest effective tax rate in New Zealand? It is a young woman on the domestic purposes benefit who is working to try to improve her life. A young woman in New Zealand today who is on the domestic purposes benefit who is working and who is earning $181 a week is taxed effectively at 91c in the dollar. She works hard she earns $1 and she gets to keep 9c of that money. If people on the domestic purposes benefit earn $100 from working hard this Government lets them keep $9. And we wonder why people in New Zealand feel like just giving up. 
This Government is saying “Here is a handout.” This person over here is a criminal: “Here have a handout.” This person over here cannot cope: “Here have a handout.” Here is a big business thinking of investing in New Zealand: “Let’s give it a handout.” Who is paying for it? It is that young woman on the domestic purposes benefit who is being taxed; it is the family person who is working 60 hours a week and being taxed; it is the small-business person working until midnight to fulfil orders to pay the GST. They are the ones paying tax. Do we hear Dr Cullen mention them? No siree. Do we hear this Government saying: “Thank you New Zealanders for the hard work for paying the taxes.”? No we do not. 
In fact we get the sense that the Government has become so arrogant that it looks down its long nose—like Pinocchio—at people who work and earn a living. Yet people who work and pay taxes created everything we have and enjoy. The people who work and pay taxes pay our wages through the tax system. We should remember that each and every time—[ 
Interruption 
] I know that Mr Cunliffe thinks it is funny that people have to work and pay taxes. I know he thinks it somehow amusing that by sitting in that chair he gets his hands on loot to hand out to every little enterprise. Mr Anderton on the road says: “Here is $2000.”; “Here is $5000.” to every little group. I know that Mr John Tamihere thinks it is great to be going around handing out money. But let us understand where that money comes from. 
So we say we should get taxes down. What would be the best tax of all? It would be a low tax and it would be one rate of tax on income. That would mean that if people earned twice as much as someone else they would pay twice as much tax. That is fair is it not? Hands up those who think that is not fair? See even Labour Party members go along with that. Actually they are still trying to do the sums. But why should someone who works hard and earns twice as much pay three times as much tax? That is wrong. There should be one low flat tax. We are against the annual tax rates bill.