Woolerton R Doug: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Woolerton R Doug: Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:647;Page:16281] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 In my Budget debate speech I mentioned that New Zealand First supports this Taxation (Personal Tax Cuts Annual Rates and Remedial Matters) Bill. I also mentioned that we would like to see some incentives in it for exporting so I will not go over that matter again. 
It is pretty rich for the previous speaker on his feet Tim Groser to be talking about cynicism because I have to say that I have never heard a more cynical speech than the one he gave. The man who was speaking voted against Working for Families and against any other attempts at tax cuts brought in by this Government in the last 9 years. Now he talks about incentivising the system. He knows that National has no intentions to incentivise the system in the way he describes it. 
What National would have done in this Budget—so its members tell us—is to give a percentage decrease in tax right across the board. It would not have attempted to attend to people who are worse off to people who are suffering pain due to the economy right now; it would have given a 1 percentage tax cut right across the board. That is what National members opposite said and that is what they would have done. We have no reason to disbelieve them. That is not incentivising the tax scheme; that is giving a tax cut to the wealthiest in society disproportionate to what others in society would get. It sounds simple but that is the net effect of a scheme such as they are proposing. And I am sure middle-income New Zealanders understand that. I am sure they understand it absolutely. 
We in New Zealand First were pleased to see in this Budget—in fact the Prime Minister made an issue of it—that the Labour Government has come to the view that State assets should not be sold. We welcome that and applaud Labour for it because we have been on about that issue for many many years. We believe that operations essential to the infrastructure of this country should stay in the hands of the taxpayers and be administered as the Government sees fit. 
Much criticism has come from the Opposition about the buy back of the railways business. We believe that if rail is run as Air New Zealand is run then it will be a huge advantage to this country. We believe quite simply that it is wrong to give money to foreign owners so that they can carry on business in this country. We do not believe that we should be giving subsidies to people who own our infrastructure. 
Likewise we do not believe that $1.5 billion should be given to Telecom to upgrade broadband as proposed by the National Party. If Telecom was doing the business as it promised this country it would then it would have invested in broadband in this country because it is its responsibility to do so. But no it has chosen to pay its shareholders who are mostly overseas huge dividends running into many many millions of dollars—hundreds of millions—over reinvesting. I do not think it is in anybody’s interests for National to say it would give Telecom $1.5 billion to upgrade the broadband service. At least under Labour’s proposal which we heard today in the Budget statement we are seeing a similar amount of money but it is contestable. 
I would have thought that that proposal would come from the National members quite frankly. They are the ones who go on about private enterprise. That money is contestable so we can have other people bidding for it. I applaud the Minister who is in the House now on that move because I think it is the right one. I could not believe my ears when I heard that the National Party stated publicly—[ 
Interruption 
]; it is not in the past—that it would just give $1.5 billion to Telecom to upgrade the broadband system. That is outrageous and it should not happen. That is not the free market at work at all. 
We are also happy to see in this Budget the tax credits for Working for Families coming forward into this year instead of waiting until April of next year because we believe that they are needed now by people who are under pressure for a number of reasons. In many cases it is because of a slight downturn in the economy which we are seeing as a flow-on effect from the United States economy. I say that anybody who would oppose such a move has simply not been out and about in the community and does not understand what is happening out there right now. 
As I said New Zealand First would have liked to see some tax incentives to correct what I believe are inequities in the market when it comes to our export sector. Exporters are suffering right now with the high dollar. They are suffering with internal costs that are not of their making and I believe that it behoves the Government of the day whichever Government it may be—and right now it is a Labour-led Government—to make those things right for exporters. We cannot lose these people. We cannot lose the manufacturing capacity and we cannot lose the capacity of our pastoral and agricultural industries be they forestry fisheries or whatever. 
So with those qualifications we support this tax bill. We support the reductions in taxation not only because they are good for individuals but also because they are good for the economy.