Hutchison Paul: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:651;Page:154] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Chair for the opportunity to speak on the Taxation (Urgent Measures and Annual Rates) Bill Part 1 “Personal tax cuts”. It is absolutely extraordinary that the Opposition— 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Speak up for the common man. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: I missed that. Would Dr Cullen like to say it again? 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Speak up for the common man. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Absolutely because that is what Dr Cullen did not do back in 1999 when he said he would raise New Zealand to the top half of the OECD. I ask members what happened. We went down two slots and that affected the common man very very deeply. 
Mr Chairman I personally congratulate you on your appointment as Assistant Speaker. I am sure you will do an absolutely superb job. 
What I think is extraordinary is that this tawdry Opposition has not made any mention of the fact that we are in urgency over this bill. It is absolutely right and proper that this is going through under urgency because after all it has taken 9 long years of a very tawdry Labour Government before finally the New Zealand people are going to receive this well-deserved tax break. It is also quite extraordinary and ironical that when the Labour Government came into power back in 1999 the very first thing it did was to raise personal tax from 33c to 39c and that was very ably pointed out by the new ACT member John Boscawen an hour or two ago this morning. 
The very thing they did was to curb personal freedom and to curb incentives and signals for thrift enterprise and reward for effort. And it is no wonder that record numbers—tens of thousands—of New Zealanders have left this country for Australia. They left because the Labour Government had no understanding of the fact that New Zealanders wanted to have incentives to ensure they were indeed rewarded for effort. In the last year 80000 people left. New Zealanders left in huge numbers because they realised that the Labour Government was mediocre and had already caused New Zealand to go down two places on the OECD ladder. That of course very much affects the common person and affects his or her standard of living. 
After all it was Dr Cullen who mentioned Labour’s legacy of 1990. Dr Cullen should remember that in 1990 New Zealand was technically bankrupt. Unemployment was at its highest level inflation was about 7 percent and interest rates were 22 percent. But let us shift on to 2008 after 9 years of Dr Cullen’s regime. His Government came into office with a growth rate of 4.6 percent and ever since it has gone down and down. His Government came in with a growth rate in the last quarter of 4.6 percent and ever since then it has gone down. 
Look at it now. Look at the dire predictions of Treasury and the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update of 10 years of deficits. [ 
Interruption 
] Well I say to Dr Cullen that he is part of the fault; there is no doubt about that. That is the legacy left by Labour and that indeed is part of the reason that so many New Zealanders have been leaving for Australia over the last 9 years. 
The other point of course is that these personal tax cuts outlined in Part 1 are absolutely central to the concept of personal freedom and to the concept of reward for effort. This is something espoused by the National Party since 1936 as fundamental to getting an enterprise economy and resisted year after year Government after Government by the Labour Party. That I say to Dr Cullen is why he is over there.