McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): There's not a single problem in this country that the Labour Party and the Labour Government does not think they can fix with tax. It is always a new tax. It's often hidden. You don't often see it. They talk up how low the tax burden is upon New Zealanders but actually that's a party that believes that people should pay more of their own money that they work hard to earn to the Government and the Government is better to redistribute it to give it back to them and when this Labour Government gives it back to them they want them to be grateful for it. Well National has a very different view. We trust New Zealanders with their own money. We back New Zealanders who work hard to get ahead and we think they are best placed to decide how to spend their own money. A Government should only take the amount it needs; it shouldn't take more than that. That's something that is a foreign concept to almost every single MP in Government at the moment except for the Assistant Speaker Jenny Salesa who is the wisest woman I've met on that side.Does anybody in this House apart from the Opposition and almost every single New Zealander who gets on Facebook to rail against the spin that comes from this Government remember that on 2 May the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern from New Zealand—one of the infrequent times she's actually in New Zealand caring about what's happening here to Kiwis not overseas jumping on aeroplanes to fly around the world with the Prime Minister of Canada—said there would be no new taxes?Ginny Andersen: Stick to the bill.Hon TODD McCLAY: I will stick to it. Jacinda Ardern on 2 May said there will be no new taxes. Then very very quickly the revenue Minister had to withdraw a bill faster than he had put it through Cabinet to say Actually there's a slight error there because we have listened to New Zealanders. It's not a new tax; it was a loophole. But we're now OK with that loophole because the public noticed." Of course that was the raid that the Labour Government Jacinda Ardern made on people's KiwiSaver and as soon as the public noticed it didn't slide under the radar; they took it out of the bill. But they've brought this piece of legislation back and if you have a look at it at the very beginning it amends the Goods and Services Tax Act. It's not making the goods and services tax—GST—easier but getting more tax from hard-working Kiwis. It amends the Income Tax Act. Is it lowering taxes on hard-working Kiwis? Is it saying they should keep more of what they earn? Is the amendment to the Income Tax Act saying "Actually because of inflation and wage inflation you are now paying more tax than you were when Labour came to Government."? No it's not. It's keeping the rates where they are so hard-working Kiwis pay more. It's amending the Tax Administration Act not to make it easier for people to pay their tax not to reduce burden or bureaucracy—actually they will say "We've found some more loopholes." which is code for the Labour Party to say "We are raiding your back pocket. We're coming after more of your tax New Zealanders but we are dressing it up so you won't notice."Then the Income Tax Act 2004 is being amended again. My gosh what is the Minister trying to sneak past New Zealanders now as a result of that? Well we've heard that the Finance and Expenditure Committee will look into that but it won't because actually the public has a right to have no confidence in the chairmanship of that committee. Or if we look at what they've done previously railroaded things through as quickly as they can not interested in listening to the experts or the public actually just doing what the Government has said "Pass this law as fast as you can because we have spent too much. We've borrowed too much and we need more money."Again on 2 May Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern—one of the rare glimpses we've seen of her in New Zealand recently—was saying there would be no new taxes. Well there was a ute tax. Every single person buying a petrol vehicle a diesel vehicle in New Zealand farmers driving utes—there is a ute tax. There was the Auckland regional fuel tax. It's not actually helping Aucklanders at all. It's making their petrol and diesel more expensive. It's not giving them roads. It's not giving them rail because this is a Government that can't actually deliver. It's just taking more money out of their pockets with the promise of one day—one day—this Government will fix them. There was the tenant tax. Do you remember that that loophole: the tenant tax? What that said was that if you are a landlord in New Zealand if you are renting out your property you must pay tax on that. Well we get that. Of course every single landlord taking in rent has to pay tax. They fall within the tax system. But the Government said "Ah we've found a loophole. You see although they are running a business and they are having to pay tax in that respect what they are not allowed to do anymore is claim back the interest on their mortgage." You know that's the thing about business and that's the thing about GST: you only pass on the difference between what you're paid out and what you've earned. But not with this Government. They said it was a loophole and now landlords can no longer deduct interest from the income that they earn from the rent.What does that mean? Number one rents have had to go up but number two it's not quite as straightforward as that because the Government has said "We've found a loophole and we're closing it down because we want more tax. But if you rent to the Government don't worry about that loophole. If you rent to the Government and we put people in your house then you can still make the tax deduction." Do you know what that's saying? It means that this Government can't deliver on its promises it can't fulfil them and it hasn't fixed the housing problem. It has no idea how they're going to tax people more because they need more money to waste on things and at the same time give themselves incentives to get ahead.I come back to the KiwiSaver tax. Well at the forefront of this piece of legislation that was rushed through Cabinet and then withdrawn from this House even more quickly was the GST raid on people's KiwiSaver. But there is more and the last speaker in the debate Glen Bennett was saying that when he was running a small accommodation business he found it extremely unfair that he had all these council rules placed upon him but others on platforms did not. Well it's as straightforward as this. The GST system is a very easy one to understand. If you earn or expect to earn more than $60000 a year you must register for GST. You must collect it you must pass it on to the Government but you get to keep any GST that you've paid. It's worked for a long time. It's one of the best systems in the world. It has one rate; that's it. If you are a foreign company and you provide goods or services to New Zealand—more than $120000 a year I think it is—you too must register for GST which is something that the previous National Government passed for fairness and transparency. But if you are a New Zealand company a New Zealand tax resident you must only register for GST if you expect to earn $60000 and above. You may register below it but you don't have to. What this piece of legislation says to every single New Zealander irrespective of how much you earn when you provide a service if you are doing it on a platform 15 percent GST will be collected from what you earn or on top of what you charge which means hard-working Kiwis pay more to the Government and those that are providing a service in New Zealand—perhaps they want to earn $5000 or $10000 a year so they can afford to pay the excessive cost increases they have seen as a result of a Labour Government and then we are coming to raid your back pocket again: "We want 15 percent off you but we're not going to let you be part of the GST system and therefore write off your costs against GST; we're just going to have a really strange system to give you a little bit back." Well everybody wants fairness when it comes to tax. Nobody wants to pay tax but New Zealanders are good at it because it's fair is transparent and it's open. But what they don't like is a Government that rides their back pocket takes too much tax—because they believe they are better at spending Kiwis' money than those New Zealanders who work hard themselves—and sneaks bills through Parliament without full disclosure of what they mean. Kiwis will be worse off as a result of this. Yes the Government will have more money but they're not going to spend that more carefully. They're not going to come with good projects to help people. They're going to continue to waste it. I don't know—what about another $50 million on a bridge for cyclists over the Waitematā Harbour that will never be built that they're still paying contractors to design because of the contracts that they signed? That's a great use of money isn't it? Well it's not helping anybody in the Rotorua electorate. It's not helping anybody in a single electorate in Auckland. This legislation will not help New Zealanders who work hard who pay more than their fair share of tax who are overburdened who are facing huge cost increases. This is a Government that just wants more money out of their back pocket. National doesn't support this. We think Kiwis are already taxed too much. Here's a suggestion for the Government: spend more carefully. Every single household in New Zealand is having to be cautious and careful about what they spend. Why shouldn't the Government do more of that? You don't have businesses saying "I know what we'll do. We'll just go out and magic up a bit more money and say it's a loophole. Thank you. I'll pay the bill." No they can't do that but this Government believes that they can. There's not a single problem in New Zealand that the Labour Party and the Labour Government does not believe tax won't solve. They are wrong. Kiwis work very very hard. They earn their own money. They are best placed to decide how to spend it. This Government should keep their hands off it. But here's my guarantee: they'll rush this through the committee. They'll rush it through the House. They'll say thank you very much and then they will give it back to New Zealanders and expect them to be grateful. National will be voting against this piece of legislation."