Wagner Nicky: Taxation (Canterbury Earthquake Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Wagner Nicky: Taxation (Canterbury Earthquake Measures) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
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NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I rise to support the Taxation (Canterbury Earthquake Measures) Bill. As a one-eyed Cantabrian and someone who has lived in Christchurch all my life I am delighted that the Budget put the recovery and rebuild of Canterbury right at its centre. The Prime Minister had promised us that the rebuild of our city and our province would be one of the Government’s most high priorities and through Budget 2011 he has delivered on that promise. He said the Government would do what was needed to make the rebuild happen over the coming weeks months and years. He is doing that. He said he knew that it was a huge task and that we need to have ongoing patience and tolerance from all Cantabrians but together we will get it done. And we will. It is going to be a long hard slog but we will get there especially now that thanks to Budget 2011 we have $8.8 billion in the kitty. That is 8.8 billion reasons to feel secure about the future of our province. 
This bill is needed to amend tax legislation so that people who so generously donated goods and services to the people of Canterbury do not create a tax liability. In the days and weeks following the earthquakes so many people donated so generously to Canterbury. They donated to the people they knew and they donated to the people they did not know. They donated to their neighbourhoods; they donated to their employees. I do not think even one of them thought about a tax liability coming out of that. The Canterbury earthquake of 22 February was the first national civil defence disaster in our country. The people of New Zealand and also people internationally responded magnificently. This bill will make sure that the people of Canterbury get the full benefit of that generosity. 
The main features of this bill include an exemption so businesses will not have to pay tax or gift duty on trading stock that they donated. It also exempts from tax welfare contributions provided by employers to their employees. There are numerous stories of what employers supplied; things like washing machines food and places to have showers and generally supporting each other. But the bill also covers two further matters. It extends the redundancy tax credit to 30 September 2011 and provides the Commissioner of Inland Revenue with the power in emergency situations to exclude certain income from counting for Working for Families entitlements purposes. They are all good common-sense amendments and I believe that every New Zealander will support them. 
Over the weeks and months since the earthquake enormous amounts of goods and services have poured in to our city. Just last weekend I visited a New Brighton hall where volunteers from the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation delivered hundreds of welfare packages. These packages consisted of blankets and personal necessities such as shampoos and soaps and the package also included a blessing from Master Cheng Yen. They were also given a debit card with $200 credited to it. It was fantastic. The volunteers gave out hundreds of these packages. The changes in this legislation will mean that very very generous gifts like these will be tax free. 
The cost of the Canterbury earthquakes is enormous. It is estimated at about $15 billion which is about 8 percent of our GDP. It will probably be one of the most expensive disasters the world has ever seen and a huge commitment for a country the size of New Zealand. Putting that into context the recent devastating earthquake in Japan is equivalent to about 3 to 5 percent of Japan’s GDP. The cost of the earthquakes is too big for Christchurch residents to manage alone but it is manageable within the Government’s nationwide fiscal programme. The people of Canterbury really appreciate the support of all New Zealanders who have given so generously to us through the Budget and understand that this bill is just another way of them showing their support. I commend the bill to the House.