Ross Jami-Lee: Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoss Jami-Lee: Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7169. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany): This bill the Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill contains a range of measures and options in which we can simplify and make the inland revenue system easier for people and easier for businesses to interact with Government and basically try to reduce some of the burden that people feel in their lives from the Government and the tax system. Far from the characterisation of Mr Tabuteau where he said it was an attack on individuals this in fact is all about making the lives of individuals a lot easier.Many of the measures outlined in the bill have been covered by some of the earlier speeches on this bill. I just want to respond to a few of the things I have heard in the past few speeches from Mr Tabuteau and Julie Anne Genter.Firstly I want to tackle this comment from Mr Tabuteau that supposedly the New Zealand tax system is overburdened and is very difficult for New Zealanders. When he compared it with the US tax system in the way that he did and tried to say that we are overburdened compared with the United States I think he made a mockery of himself. As Julie Anne Genter herself pointed out the New Zealand tax system is far simpler than the US tax system and New Zealanders are far better off because of that. We are not the only ones saying that though. Let me just point out that the Tax Foundation in Washington D.C. found that New Zealand has the second-most competitive tax system in the OECD and most respondents to the Deloitte’s 2014 Asia Pacific Tax Complexity Survey rated New Zealand’s tax policies as straightforward consistent and predictable compared with other countries in the region. We do not have an overburdened tax system.I also want to respond to some of the comments from Julie Anne Genter. When she started off her speech it sounded like a bit of a stump speech that did not have much relationship to the bill itself but she was talking about children and how we have missed an opportunity supposedly to make the lives of children easier through this tax bill. Can I just point out that this Government is the Government that is putting more money in the pockets of those at the bottom who need help through the benefits system. We are the Government that is lifting achievement levels in the education system for children. We are the Government that is creating more jobs in the economy which ultimately benefits children. So when we hear comments from the Green Party that we are not doing enough to help children through this tax bill we have to point out those measures.This bill is all about reducing some of the complexity in the tax system. My colleagues have talked about measures like electronic signatures and about reducing the time frames that people have to wait to get their tax return. We have talked about the fact that there is greater information-sharing amongst Government departments. All of those things make it easier for New Zealanders to interact with the Inland Revenue Department and make it easier for them to comply with their tax obligations. This is all about making the tax system simpler for them and it will be better for New Zealanders in the long run.