Gilmore Aaron: Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Gilmore Aaron: Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:6003] 
AARON GILMORE (National) 
: 
 I rise to talk about Part 2 of the Taxation (International Taxation Life Insurance and Remedial Matters) Bill. This bill as everyone who has spoken on Part 1 has said is intimidating by its size more than anything else. As a new member particularly one on the Finance and Expenditure Committee I had the unfortunate experience in my first committee meeting of being given this bill and told that we were deliberating on it the very next day. It was entertaining to pick up certain parts of it and go through and read it the night before and I must admit that it was an education in the realms of arcane tax law. 
I will touch on one particular part of Part 2 where migrant workers are discussed. I will talk about four clauses: clauses 383 408 417 and 454. The interesting thing about the clauses that talk about the changes for migrant workers is that migrant workers are a very important part of the New Zealand economy. Migrant workers are defined as those who are here for a maximum of 7 months or perhaps 9 months in special circumstances within an 11-month period. Part 2 of this bill does a really neat thing for migrant workers I think. Those workers play an important part in seasonal work in New Zealand. The changes that the committee made to this part include putting in a special tax rate for migrant workers taking it from 19 percent to 15 percent. That is a 4 percent reduction and what a neat thing that is to do. For the people and communities that rely heavily on migrant workers that tax reduction will be a great thing. There are six ski fields in the Selwyn electorate of my good colleague here to my right Amy Adams. Ski fields rely very heavily on migrant workers in the winter months. 
This tax reduction will be a great thing for migrant workers. Equally it will be a good thing for people in the electorate of my other good colleague Colin King the MP for Kaikoura—he is the MP whom Paul Henry did not recognise—as vineyards rely very heavily on migrant workers. I know that Mr Burns one of the members opposite is a vineyard owner. He probably has a few migrant workers on his operation across the road. I enjoyed a bottle of that member’s vintage last week I think after taking part in a charity debate. It was not bad I must say. For the migrant workers who come to New Zealand for those thousands of people who come to the ski fields for the winter months or to the vineyards in the summer months or perhaps even for the odd shearer who comes in to fill some gaps we have in looking after other parts of our rural sector that 4 percent deduction in the special tax rate of 15 percent down from 19 percent will be a great measure. 
That is particularly true for our friends from the Pacific who come here from Kiribati Vanuatu and places like that where that little bit of extra income is incredibly important for them to be able to sustain their lifestyle back home. The remittance that they send back to the people in those Pacific countries is a really important part of the income that they use to provide not only for themselves while they are here in New Zealand but also for their families back home. I think equally for those ski field workers—obviously not many ski field workers come from the Pacific Islands; I am yet to hear any property developer come up with any ideas about that—who have that reduction from 19 percent to 15 percent that is an extra 4 percent that they will have to put in their back pockets or to spend on the good parts of the tourism industry in New Zealand which helps a tiny little bit more to keep the economy growing in the way that we want to see. We are all about the economy growing. 
I see that the member from Kaikoura is now in the Chamber—the member whom Paul Henry forgot from the great electorate of Kaikoura. Anyway I want to touch again on another part of this bill and that is the other interesting bit in Part 2 which talks about the international tax rules for insurance companies. In particular we have talked about the controlled foreign company regime. There are some changes in the insurance sector. There are some interesting examples where a growing number of New Zealand - owned companies are looking at expanding offshore or have existing equity-based investments that they operate offshore. I can think of one mutual company in particular in Christchurch that is an iconic New Zealand insurance company. It has increasingly been looking at ways to expand outside of New Zealand. It is one of the dominant players in the New Zealand insurance industry. Part 2 of this bill—this behemoth of 900 pages—has some little things in it that will actually help that company expand and just get a little bit extra for its members. It is a mutually owned company so its members are its policyholders. Again that is a good example of those people being able to reinvest a little bit more profit into their business to keep New Zealanders working in this time of recession and economic problems.