Bridges Simon: Budget Debate 
Bridges Simon: Budget Debate 
[Volume:663;Page:11314] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 I did not want to start this way but I have to say after listening to Nanaia Mahuta and her comment that the Maori Party is “shallow and hollow” that all the speeches from Labour members have been shallow and hollow. They have been shallow and hollow because Labour members were wrong-footed on this Budget. They thought this was going to be a Budget for the “rich fat cats” as they put it— 
Brendon Burns 
: Ha ha! 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: —like Brendon Burns the socialist vintner from Marlborough. They thought they were getting one thing but they got something altogether different. When we look in this Budget document at the average tax rates we clearly see that this Budget has been for the many not the few. This is a Budget where people who earn up to $48000 a year which does not make them wealthy by any stretch will have a top tax rate of 17.5 percent but their average tax rate—their effective tax rate if you like—is around 15 percent. Effectively that rate on $48000 has been halved from what we had a couple of years ago. We saw last Thursday a Budget from a National-led Government that delivers for the many not the few. Frankly that is what frustrates and demoralises the Labour Party so much. 
Often things are said in this House insincerely. They are said flippantly and the like but I come to this House to say sincerely that last Thursday Budget day in this House was the proudest day I have had as a National member of Parliament since I have had the privilege to serve the people of Tauranga. I was extremely proud to hear Bill English the Minister of Finance then John Key and his words that we got a Budget for the many. I felt we delivered on things we had promised in the election like tax cuts and a better brighter future for the people of this country. It was very good to see that and it was something I stood proudly in applause of on Thursday. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: You can’t say you delivered on your promises; name one. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: I accept that the Labour Party would like to say there is some controversy around this Budget but we heard from Chris Tremain and I heard back in my electorate that it is clear this Budget is very popular. People know that we are putting incentives in place and we are doing the right things for the right reasons. We are getting it right for the long-term prosperity and future of this country. 
I want to talk about two significant things in the Budget. The first is the tighter control on Government expenditure and finances and the second is tax reform. Chris Tremain gave the example of sports fields. The day after the Budget on Friday I was back in my electorate—and I thank the whip for that leave—for a number of meetings that I had to attend to that had been longstanding commitments. I spoke to a retirement village about the Budget. I hope the people in the retirement village will not mind me characterising the retirement village this way but it was not a top-end one. In the spectrum of retirement villages it was somewhere in the middle. I am a politician but I think I did a pretty straight fair job on what the Budget contains and where it is going. Two things were clear to me from listening to those seniors in my electorate. They were not wealthy people; I emphasise that. They were genuinely concerned about how debt rose under the previous Labour Government. They were concerned about public debt and the country’s debt which I will come back to. They were glad to know that this Government has a plan of action to make sure we do not get the kind of “Greekonomics” that were practised by members on the other side of the House. They were glad to know that and they were genuinely thankful. 
They were also pleased—and this is something Labour would like to see as controversial—that GST went up. The reason for that is that they remember and they know from their own lives and lifestyles and their household budgets that we cannot just go out and spend spend spend and consume consume consume. They really did think that we were doing the right things with our tax package system to get incentives in place. They were as I say pleased about GST. They did not think the rise would injuriously affect them because they know how to be careful with their pay packets and they thought we were doing the right things for the right reason. I explained the numbers in relation to superannuation and the tax cuts for them. They were glad to know that as a result of the Budget they will be about $560 a year better off. They were glad to hear that. 
There is a huge amount in this Budget and the details are excellent. Let me deal with a couple of the four primary objectives that the Budget had. One is reforming the tax system and the other is getting the Government’s finances under control. In some ways the finances of the Government and in fact the country paint what could be seen as a worrying picture. We know that debt in this country around the year 2000 was a bit under $100 billion. Today as I understand it it is $168 billion. By 2014 it will be $250 billion or thereabouts. That is easy to say but they are staggering figures. We are dealing with sharply rising debt in this country. This Government is doing something about that. We will not pull the rug out from under people’s feet. Bill English and the Prime Minister were very careful with the last Budget to make sure we kept entitlements going without raising those debt levels. Now as we go forward we are taking firm control of the Government’s finances. We are working within tight restraints. 
There is more spending in health education and science and that is good to see but we want to get better value from our public services. We are being much more careful with how we spend the people of New Zealand’s money. That is something that Labour members would be quite astute to realise. When we hear them talking in this debate they do not seem to realise that. Every dollar of tax is taken from people who have worked hard for that money. That is a fundamental difference between this party and that party— 
Brendon Burns 
: No it’s not. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Labour members are saying they do not want tight control. They want to borrow spend and hope. That is those members across from us. 
I will quickly talk about tax—$15 billion over 4 years. It is the most significant package of tax changes in the last 25 years. Labour members’ position on that is again frankly perplexing. They are all over the show. Perhaps that is why as Chris Tremain has said they have been so quiet when it comes to question time in the House following the Budget. Can the next speaker tell me what Labour’s position is on GST? Labour members drove around Tauranga and a whole lot of cities saying “Axe the Tax”. Now we hear in an appalling display by Phil Goff on  
Q+A 
 that most probably Labour would keep GST where it is. We do not know what Labour’s position is on income tax but I would like to know. On this side of the House we are very clear: tax cuts for the many. Two-thirds of the costs of tax cuts went to those on incomes below $48000 a year. That means that 73 percent of income earners will have a top statutory or income tax rate of 17.5 percent or less. Those are powerful figures. 
I will just finish on this. When Labour members get up and say that someone on $80000 or $90000 a year is a rich person or a fat cat— 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: We didn’t say that. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Well Labour members say they did not say that but they want those people to pay more tax. Let me tell members that members on this side of the House want to do something to ensure that people stay in this country and do not go overseas so they can earn and prosper here. This is a great Budget. It makes me proud.