Jones Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Jones Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:18954] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 Tena tatou. Greetings Mr Chairperson. It is a pleasure to stand and—unlike the previous speaker Tim Macindoe—to direct our attention to Part 1 of the Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill which is to do with the tax rates. Mr Chairperson given that you have provided a level of latitude to the man who has put to sleep what will remain of the farming community unless it starts to pay its way in areas such as Matamata Morrinsville— 
John Hayes 
: Wairarapa. 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: Actually I must talk about Wairarapa at the moment. There will be a monumental change in Wairarapa and it is called the removal of the member. That is about to come as a consequence of our passing the discredited script that is otherwise known as the Budget. 
All societies need to contribute we know towards meeting the costs of the apparatus of Government. All societies need to contribute towards meeting the costs of any vision any aspiration etc. that a Government seeks to implement—although this Government is devoid despite its rhetoric of such aspiration or vision. But we have a concern and we will repeat it. John Key invited members on the Opposition side of the Chamber to meet him on the hustings and we cannot wait for that to begin. Actually it did begin yesterday because his speech was not a parliamentary speech but a hustings speech. He was entitled to make it but it is very difficult for us to be serious when he directs such belligerence to this side of the Chamber and forgets that the vast majority of women for example who heard his speech found it to be a very discreditable presentation. It overlooked the actual suffering discomfort and fear that many New Zealand families now feel and that will get worse as a consequence of this document. 
The tax rates at one level are a quantitative reality but the issue is about their burden. We on this side of the Chamber know that the burden must fall evenly but more important that we actually need the revenue. I am concerned that the tax rates may have been changed and that it will do damage to the conservation budget for endangered species. We know on this side of the Chamber that that member over there is an endangered species. He will not be back in 2012; he will not beat Trevor Mallard. As National gets to the end of its list the member will drop off. So I say to Paul: “UB40 for you.” 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member must use the member’s full name. 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: Of course I must. Unfortunately I was borrowing from the biblical expression of robbing Peter to pay Paul; that is all that I was doing. I was not taking in vain either the name of this fearless champion of the vanquished. Unfortunately when he hopped in the limo he forgot about them. I was just talking about the new status for Paul Quinn which will be unemployment. 
But let me come back to the bill. I will talk about the burden that falls upon society. We genuinely believe that if tax relief is to be offered through the rates it ought to fall on those people who are under the most pressure. Our belief is based on a different vision that members on the Opposition side of the Chamber have from the vision of Government members in relation to who ought to pay. They have been telling us over the last 24 hours that there is a small slither of people in New Zealand who are the wealth generators. Those members believe unfortunately that they are a proxy for the wealth-generating community. But they are not. The reality is that every single New Zealander whom we know wants to do the right thing by their own family and their community. But if they are not treated fairly through the taxation system then whatever initiative they have is stifled. 
Of course we need tax revenue in order to overcome the mountain of debt. I personally think that all New Zealanders especially those who are living through the misfortune of having used their homes as ATM machines know at a personal level that we have to bring debt down. Mr Dunne is right in his press statements to challenge all members of Parliament to think seriously and to chart a course forward as to how we can do that. But when we manipulate the taxation system and the spread is grossly uneven we do not create a system whereby those who have the ability to contribute towards substantially reducing the burden of debt upon us are paying their full share. That is a reasonable debatable point. We will take it forward and debate it up and down the country during the latter part of November when as a consequence of Helen Clark’s having brought the Rugby World Cup competition to New Zealand we will celebrate the victory of the All Blacks. We will remind people that just as we look for fairness and for aggression in sport we were hoping to see something fair in the taxation system. OK we know the Government will not be bold. We know it is vacuous and that is why the philosophy underlying these rates etc. favours a narrow caste of economic players in the economy.