Ardern Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:16577] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to follow the Hon Richard Prebble because he makes a lot of sense. There is an old saying that is certainly appropriate to socialists. It goes like this: “If it moves tax it if it keeps moving tax it a bit more and if it stops moving subsidise it to get it moving again.” That old cliché has been around for a long time but it is as relevant today with a Government like this as it has ever been. 
 I say to the Hon Richard Prebble who has just resumed his seat that there is one plus in having a discriminatory tax regime for Maori and it relates to a bit of an experiment going on in this country at the moment. There has been a lot of argument about whether lower taxes would increase growth. Dr Cullen over there with a PhD in history—certainly not a PhD in tax rates—has said that they would not increase growth. But let us look at what has happened since we have had two tax rates for two different ethnic groups. The Maori incorporations with a 19 percent tax rate have had growth that has outstripped that of any other kind of business in this country particularly in their farming. In farming Maori incorporations—on a 19c tax rate—have had incredible growth compared with the average growth of the rest of farmers who pay up to 39c in the dollar. [ 
Interruption 
] I ask that member—look at the Topp Twins sitting in the whips’ chairs over there heckling away—to study the facts then come back to Parliament and tell me I am wrong. Have Maori incorporations with a lower tax rate—which will of course be reinforced under this piece of legislation—had strong growth rates exceeding those of any other corporation or entity in this country? The answer is absolutely yes they have. That is absolute evidence that lower tax rates will create higher growth rates. 
There are a couple of other points in Part 2 that need to be touched on. One is the fact that the tax rate for horticultural investment is going to be improved. That is a plus. I say good on the people of Hawke’s Bay who clearly lobbied the member who lives there—not their local member but the member who lives there who happens to be Dr Michael Cullen—to get a special rate. Obviously Michael Cullen is thinking of retiring to the Hawke’s Bay and this is the “smooth the way for Michael into the Hawke’s Bay” clause. Good on them for getting it! But why is that rate not applied to all agricultural land-based industries? Let us look at farm machinery. We all know that when we invest in modern agricultural techniques and equipment we get stronger growth rates and higher productivity. Why are the depreciation rates for farm machinery in general not taken into account in this piece of legislation? Why was that left out? Who knows; how would we ever know? 
Let us look at the depreciation rates on things like planting new pasture and on dairy conversions—a lot of which are going on in my colleague’s Rakaia area. What has happened to them? The socialists have said they are not going to have people planting new grass cultivars that achieve higher levels of production. They are not going to have that; they are going to tax them. They are now going to make people depreciate that over a 15-year period instead of claiming depreciation in the first year as they have always been able to do. [ 
Interruption 
] The Minister who is carping away as usual should take the call and explain to Parliament tonight how that helps the Prime Minister’s mission statement in her speech from the throne: “We will be about creating higher growth rates in New Zealand.” How will it help in that regard? I am curious to find that out and I am sure anybody listening is. The answer is that it clearly will not. 
I ask the Committee tonight why we do not reduce all tax rates to the level that the Maori incorporations are enjoying. It has been demonstrated overwhelmingly to Parliament that that creates stronger growth. It is there for us to see. Other farming is not growing at the same rate. So why not reduce the whole tax base to 19c in the dollar which is what the Maori incorporations pay? Instead of doing that one of the very first things Dr Michael Cullen did was put it up.