Foss Craig: Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Foss Craig: Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 August 2010. Volume:665;Page:13280. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
: 
 As tempting as it is I will just stay to the Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill—just briefly because members have obviously been enjoying themselves tonight.  
First I acknowledge the Minister of Revenue. I also acknowledge the bill’s tight time frame. If the bill passes its first reading it will to go the Finance and Expenditure Committee. 
In spite of the rhetoric most members accept that there is ongoing change: markets change systems change things change and yes GST is changing. But as the Minister noted the debate here is not about the quantum of GST at all; it is about the administration of GST and closing some of the loopholes. Some of the changes even address matters that members opposite have been spending a bit of time on lately in and around various property schemes. 
GST debates are generally about where the GST rate is set but I think that across the House the integrity fairness and transparency of the GST system have been well noted. Previous Governments over many years have left it relatively unchanged although there have been many many tidy-ups along the way. 
As previous speakers have noted yes there are some headline items here including the phoenix schemes and I am sure the select committee will spend a bit of time learning about them. There are also a lot of remedial matters which we will see as we go through the detail of the bill. For members who are interested it is well worth noting that much of this came from the  
GST: Accounting for land and other high-value assets 
 discussion paper released in November 2009. I also note that there are two regulatory impact statements in and around this bill but interestingly I cannot quite quantify what is going on under the phoenix schemes although obviously there is some mischief going on there. 
I will pick up on one point made by the previous speaker Stuart Nash in relation to issues around the implementation of various Acts and things. Most important the bill amends the KiwiSaver Act 2006 which was brought in under the previous administration. Much of this bill amends part of that Act which has had quite a few appearances before this House in Supplementary Order Papers and remedial matters bills piggybacking on other legislation to fix it up because it was brought through in haste quite some years ago. But there is general acceptance that some changes are needed. I am particularly in favour of the changes to KiwiSaver that make KiwiSaver itself more relevant in relation to data changes and the way in which most consumers expect their data to be able to be used by default providers and the Inland Revenue Department in this modern age. It reflects consumers’ expectations and it is a good example of legislation keeping up with current practice. 
I look forward to this bill coming before the hard-working Finance and Expenditure Committee. I commend the bill to the House.