Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm only sorry I've only got five minutes to actually refute the nonsense that we have heard because the arguments we've heard from the left are frankly intellectually bankrupt. Dr Deborah Russell is no more a tax expert than I'm 6 foot 4. And I'm going to say this about Barbara Edmonds: Barbara Edmonds at least she knows what she's talking about. But I will say this: if she had come to my office and put a big red line through that paper that would have been the last act that she would have done in my Minister's office. Now I say this: she wouldn't have done that and I actually admire that because she has become as political as she needs to be and she has a strong future in this House.But let me just say something about what the Green member Chlöe Swarbrick said. She accused Andrew Bayly of a right-wing ideology about this bill. Well the sad reality is this isn't right-wing ideology. This used to be the ideology of the democratic left. I'm no Keynesian. People know that I am preferring a supply side economics approach but Maynard Keynes saw the value in this and he said about this in 1933: taxation may be so high as to defeat its object and that given sufficient time to gather the fruits a reduction of taxation will run a better chance than an increase of balancing the budget." And that's because the people on the other side do not understand the difference between tax rates and tax revenue.But I'm not going to bother trying to convince them otherwise; I'm going to talk to the people who are listening to this debate the people who supported Labour: the nurses the teachers the police officers who are affected by the drag that the tax programme produces.Hon Andrew Little: Well it funds their jobs.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Now 10 years ago the average salary—oh the Minister of Health should listen to this. Ten years ago according to an Official Information Act (OIA) request replied to by the Auckland District Health Board the average Auckland DHB registered nurse earned $63000. Ten years later they earn $77000. Now in 2010—Hon Andrew Little: Because of the pathetic pay rises under National.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Listen up Mr Little. In 2010 that $63000 salary was 10 percent less than the top tax rate. Ten years later the average nursing salary was 10 percent more than the top tax rate. Now I do the comparison. I would like to be able to compare what tax that person would pay 10 years ago compared with today but because—and Anna Lorck and Dr Deborah Russell and Barbara Edmonds didn't acknowledge this—the previous Government did lower tax rates I need to use the 2010 tax base as the reference.The analysis shows that that nurse is paying $1878 more tax than they would have if the thresholds had been changed. That's not more tax just because they went up in income; that is the premium for going into those top tax brackets: $1878. Now that registered nurse has tens of thousands of colleagues around the country all paying $1878 more because of bracket creep. The teachers the police officers the nurses the nurse aids the teacher aids that think they support this Government are being fleeced by the inflationary impact of tax bracket creep.Now at $700-odd million of this cost yes there is a cost but I remind the House what the Government said when they increased the minimum wage. They said "Oh but that's OK because those people will spend it and it will stimulate the economy." It doesn't matter how the money gets into the pockets of those hardworking taxpayers the same benefit accrues when we raise the tax thresholds and lower the tax that those hardworking Kiwis pay. But we know that's not going to happen and it doesn't happen not because as I think Ingrid Leary said it somehow means it doesn't get scrutiny of this House. They don't want to do it because they're socialists. They want everybody to earn the same thing they want everybody to pay the same rate. And I tell you what that's what happens in Venezuela and Cuba and Zimbabwe and North Korea. And if they want a tax framework that looks like that they will get an economy that looks like those countries. This is a really good idea its time has come. Only a National Party in Government will deliver that benefit to Kiwis."