2. Budget 2018—Tax IncreasesHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceBudget 2018—Tax Increases2. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all his statements and actions?Hon DAVID PARKER (Associate Minister of Finance) on behalf of the Minister of Finance: Yes in the context in which they were given and undertaken.Hon Amy Adams: If he stands by his statement that each of the decisions he made as part of Budget 2018 will improve the well-being of New Zealanders does he think that an Auckland family paying $700 a year more to fill up their car because of his Government's new taxes when the price of petrol is already rising helps to take the pressure off the squeezed middle?Hon DAVID PARKER: Whilst I don't necessarily accept the arithmetic I would make the point that that family is likely to be receiving significant help through the Families Package the Best Start package the spending on transport infrastructure and many other initiatives in the Budget.Hon Amy Adams: At what price per litre might he ask transport Minister Phil Twyford to reconsider implementing fuel excise tax increases and regional fuel taxes as petrol is now heading towards $3 a litre?SPEAKER: I'm just going to halt the member while I contemplate the ministerial responsibility for it. No I will let the question go. But it is right at the edge—and possibly over—the Minister of Finance's responsibility.Hon DAVID PARKER: That's speculative. It's a matter for the responsibility of the Minister of Transport and I'm sure he'd be happy to answer that question but I would also make the point that if petrol prices become more expensive because of the cost of imported petrol it's all the more important that we have an efficient transport system in Auckland.Hon Amy Adams: Is it in the best interests of New Zealand and New Zealanders for a full-time worker on the average wage to be hit by the highest marginal tax rate as they are forecast to do in just a few years?Hon DAVID PARKER: Again that's a hypothetical question. We have a number of Budgets coming. We've got a tax review coming. The member will have to wait and see how that unfolds but unlike the member just last week we've never promised a thousand dollars a week for every working New Zealander. Early estimates put that at a cost of $136 billion doubling Government expenditure and breaking the bank.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have noticed that Amy Adams has a penchant for asking questions and then intervening five or six times—[Interruption]—just like now. In the last answer given by my colleague she intervened six times and that's simply not acceptable. If she wants an answer then have the decency to keep quiet and hear it.SPEAKER: I've got a lot of hope for politeness in the House I want to tell the right honourable gentleman—not quite that much.Hon Amy Adams: How much extra tax will New Zealanders have to pay before he considers the Government has enough to meet all of its promises? Is it the $20 billion a year more that's already forecast or even more than that?Hon DAVID PARKER: Even excluding the Christchurch earthquake expenditure by the last Government this Government's projected expenditure as a percentage of GDP is lower than it was under her Government.Hon Amy Adams: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was very much around the Government's tax revenue; how much tax comes in. Government expenditure is an entirely different category. He didn't come near to talking about the projections—SPEAKER: I'll let the member ask the question again.Hon Amy Adams: How much extra tax will New Zealand have to pay before he considers the Government has enough to meet all of its promises; the $20 billion a year more that is already forecast to be paid or is it even more than that?Hon DAVID PARKER: The Budget forecasts are in the Budget for everyone to read. I would make the point that the taxes collected by the last Government increased by $20 billion—under her Government—which is the same number she complains is forecast for this one.Hon Amy Adams: When he said in question time yesterday Well the previous Government also had some residual cash deficits in their forecasts." was he aware that the previous Government's forecasts showed 13 residual cash surpluses and just one deficit over the next 14 years while this Government's showed 13 deficits and just one surplus?Hon DAVID PARKER: I reject that. We're forecasting surpluses throughout the forecast period which matches the nine surpluses in a row we ran when last in Government. It wasn't us that increased Government debt by $49 billion in the last year; it was the last Government."