Little Andrew: Taxation (Annual Rates Employee Allowances and Remedial Matters) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: Taxation (Annual Rates Employee Allowances and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18576. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Labour):It is a great pleasure to speak at this very important stage on the Taxation (Annual Rates Employee Allowances and Remedial Matters) Bill. I want to say how utterly disappointed I feel—betrayed I think—on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who once upon a time looked to this Government to do constructive things not only for the business sector but for the people who make up our great population and who are the citizens of this great country.They looked to this Government to exercise responsible sensible constructive management of the economy. Every citizen in New Zealand—every voting citizen every working citizen every citizen who wants to work but cannot because of conditions running against them—wants to know that we have in place a Government that acts sensibly and properly when it comes to the revenue that the Government needs to create the wonderful country that we all aspire to. They look to this Government to make sure that the taxes that the citizens of this great country responsibly pay every time they work every time they line up at the shops or buy things that enables the Government to gather GST every time they do something that adds to the Crown’s coffers—they want to know that the rates that are struck are right and proper for the age in which we live because the demands of the citizenry have changed. The demands of the citizenry have changed.People now want a country with a State that exercises and plays a proper role one that does a number of things. They want a State that encourages investment in the regions that supports people into housing and that tides them over through those difficult times when they are out of work when they need income support when the mother or father of a child finds themselves on their own with those child responsibilities and needs to be supported and when they put their children through school—through primary school high school early childhood education and even on to university. They want a Government that sees its responsibility to ensure that it has enough revenue to meet those costs so that we have a country that can properly and proudly boast it is fair and equal for all.But the rates that we are confirming in Part 1 of this legislation do not allow us to say that. When we come to pass this bill—or certainly this part of it—and when we have struck the tax rates for this particular year we will not be able to say that this Government has struck tax rates that ensure that it will have the correct revenue to create a country that is fair and equitable and to fix the dream of every young citizen in this country to have the opportunity to excel to reach their potential and to do the best for themselves their family and their country. This was an opportunity for this Government to do something different—not to do business as usual not to do more of the same not to say “Nothing to see here citizens. Move on.” but to do something different to give hope and courage to people who are looking for something new and for something different.This Government is not there. This Government wants to rest on whatever laurels it might once have had. It no longer has a vision for a fair and equitable New Zealand. This Government is quite happy to stand by and see inequality grow and inequity continue and do nothing about it. The Government says that the rates that we are striking in this part of the legislation are enough to generate a surplus and that somehow this is a positive thing for the country. We of course all know that the surplus in this year’s Budget is not a real surplus at all. It is achieved through manipulating things like leaving ACC levies unnecessarily high and it has a range of other tricks up its sleeves as well.Darien Fenton: Loans to Auckland.ANDREW LITTLE: And of course it is describing what funding is for Auckland roads as a loan to Auckland so that it is on the balance sheet but it does not come out of the profit and loss or the income and expenditure. What a silly Government. What a silly Minister of Finance who dreams up that sort of thing and pretends he can say to the people of New Zealand the good citizens of New Zealand that we have a surplus. What the Government is too afraid to do is to confront the challenges we have got to face reality square on and to say we have to do something different and we need tax rates that allow us to do something different—tax rates that mean that as a Government we can do things that will rebuild this country and its sense of fairness opportunity and equality.The rates that we are being asked to agree to and to strike in Part 1 of this legislation will not allow that. Every member of the Government opposite knows that which is why they are looking down with a sense of deep shame and embarrassment. They know that they have let down the people of New Zealand. They know that they have let down the people of New Zealand. The tireless hard-working Government backbenchers opposite know that. They will tell us—and they may well even be believable—that they have tried to put pressure on their Cabinet colleagues in their caucus to do something different. But oh no—nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. The Government sails on into the death months—the last 3 months—of this Government on the ropes without a vision and no longer willing to offer hope to the great citizens of this country. That is where we are now. What an unhappy state we are in.It does not need to be this way. The people of New Zealand know that come 20 September when there is a change of Government they will elect a Government that is prepared to deliver a fresh vision—a vision at all—and a sense of hope with new tax rates that will mean that we can have a Government that can do good and positive things for Kiwis and that we can have good schools more teachers higher-quality schooling good hospitals and people who can get actually getting their operations when they need them. Elderly people who are hanging out for their hip operations and young people who are hanging out for their operations to enable them to have a life ahead of them will actually get those operations and there will be a health system that works for people.We will actually have roads—not just in Auckland and Christchurch but around the country. We will have a roading network that we can boast about and be proud of. We will have roads in Taranaki that actually have a shoulder so that if you need to veer away from somebody on the other side of the road you have got somewhere to go. We will have roads that are actually smooth and do not cause trucks to go out of control; roads that do not crumble and fall on vehicles as they have now done twice in the last 6 weeks on State Highway 3 in Taranaki.People will want to see a Government that is responsible enough to levy fair taxes—reasonable taxes—on people so that it can do the job of a proper and responsible Government. Well that change is coming as we all know. That change is coming and it is only a few months away. The people of New Zealand have to hold on for only a little bit longer. This legislation will no doubt pass. These tax rates will pass but people will be able to see that there will be an alternative way and an alternative approach. That approach will ensure that the people of New Zealand will have a Government collecting the right resources and devoting those resources fairly across all of New Zealand and all New Zealanders not just favouring those in the metropolitan areas in Auckland and in Christchurch—which desperately need it of course—but in all areas as well particularly in regional New Zealand which has been starved.You have only got to listen to the voice of regional New Zealand as in a Taranaki newspaper on the weekend. The civic leaders of Taranaki were calling out to say that we need a different approach. Every issue that they identified is an issue that members on this side of the Chamber have been talking about because we are in touch with the people and we know what is needed but they were not issues the Government opposite has talked about or even thought of because its members are out of touch and out of time. These rates will not help New Zealand. These rates will be more of the same business as usual but change is afoot and change is a-coming and well may that day come.