Prebble Richard: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:16576] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) 
: 
 The ACT party opposes the Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. I draw to the attention of the Committee the fact that we have written a minority report in respect of this bill. It is one sentence long: “The ACT Party view is that adopting a low flat rate of tax below those of our trading partners would overcome much of the problems this bill seeks to solve.” Of course the reason this bill is here is that our tax code is extraordinarily complicated because there are all sorts of different tax rates. 
I turn my attention to the complications the Government has got itself into by introducing race into our tax system. It is extraordinary that a Maori authority pays a lower tax rate for the same activity than other New Zealanders are forced to pay and of course that has led to all sorts of problems. I refer in particular to clauses 26 27 and 34. One of the problems will be ascertaining who is a Maori. The Minister in the chair David Cunliffe should give us some guidance on that question. I understand there have been people in this House who have decided they are Maori and then have decided they are not—they are not quite sure. Under clause 26 people can just feel that they are Maori and after they look at the tax rates they can decide they will set themselves up as a Maori authority. 
Pita Paraone 
: You want to be Maori! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The New Zealand First member says that and I draw to the attention of the Committee the fact that if we look at the census we see that in the last three censuses the number of Maori in New Zealand has increased faster than is biologically possible. People may wonder why anyone would want to say he or she is Maori. The reason that people want to do so is that Maori pay lower tax. They also become eligible for a whole range of benefits. 
Brian Connell 
: Not immigration. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Not immigration no. That is the sort of mess the Government gets itself into. 
I am not actually opposed to Maori authorities paying a lower rate of tax; I just want everyone else to be able to pay that same lower rate of tax. What I find interesting about this Government is that Dr Cullen has many many reasons as to why average New Zealanders should not have the benefit of lower tax. He even has the United Future party which supports the Government pointing out that there has been a bit of inflation and that people are paying higher rates of tax. The United Future members cannot actually bring themselves to vote in that way but they do make that point. In that respect—flip-flopping—they have got as far as that. I say to the Committee that it should look at the elections in the United States today. Has lower tax resulted in the rejection of the Bush/Cheney Government? No it has not. We have Government members who may think that the public likes paying extra tax. The Labour Party actually has contempt for its own voters and supporters. Labour members say they are in favour of them but what is their record? Their record is that they believe they can spend money better than the public can and they think they have the right to do that. 
I ask the Minister in the chair to take a call and tell the Committee first who is a Maori. I ask him to tell us about all the problems of deciding whether someone is Maori. He may have some personal experiences he wants to share with the Committee. Then he can tell us how people decide whether they are a Maori authority under clause 26. That is now an important fiscal question because if a person decides he or she is Maori that person can pay a lower rate of tax than non-Maori. That is what the Government has put into the tax code so it has a duty to tell us who is a Maori. I would be really interested to hear from Mr Cunliffe who I understand has personally looked into that question. Members may know that the number of Maori MPs in this Parliament keeps going up and down. It was up to 20; now it is 19. Apparently members have changed their minds yet again. That is a matter of humour here in Parliament but it is now a matter of fiscal importance in our legislation and I think Mr Cunliffe has a duty to explain to us as he is the Minister in the chair how one decides whether a person qualifies as a Maori authority. Then he can tell us why Maori authorities should pay a lower rate of tax than other people especially when some of them are amongst New Zealand’s largest companies.