Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Chair. I'd like to talk a little bit about these tax rates from the point of view of small business. The Mt Eden Village is one of the life centres of the Epsom electorate that I'm proud to represent. I think a lot of people would say that the life centre of the Mt Eden Village is the iconic cafe of Frasers. Anyone who's been to Mt Eden will know the place that I'm talking about. Mt Eden Village is reeling at the moment on the news that Frasers may close. I happen to know the proprietors of Frasers—as a good local MP should know the people that are trying to do business and serve their customers and employ people and make the place a little bit vibrant. What they've said to me repeatedly is that they have been beaten down by four years of anti-business sentiment by this Government. The relevance of that to this particular piece of legislation is that income tax—a lot of people miss this but income tax is a cost that businesses pay because they are desperate to get people—hasn't helped that this Government closed the border for two years. They're desperate to get people in a tight labour market and one of the costs that business faces when they try to employ people is that they have to pay those people and those people have to pay income tax.So every time you go to Frasers and you order a coffee or a piece of toast or any other small business at Mt Eden Village or in the wider Epsom electorate or anywhere up and down from Cape Reinga to Bluff part of the cost of everything you pay is the income tax that is taken out of people's pockets by this Government. People forget that; they think income tax is something that you pay when you earn money but actually it's something that you pay when you spend it. I'd just put it to this Government that by keeping the income tax rates they have particularly that punishing middle income tax rate of 30 percent as soon as you hit $48000 they are not only taxing people who are trying to make ends meet they are actually taxing the businesses that are trying to employ them and the customers who are going to buy things at those businesses. After two years of COVID restrictions with global shocks we are starting to see those costs actually knock off iconic and beloved businesses up and down New Zealand.One of the most powerful reasons why this Government should support Supplementary Order Paper 140 that I have put on the Table—to cut that top 39c envy tax and to drop that middle income tax rate from 30c down to 17½ on all income from $48000 per year to $70000 per year—is to give relief to those businesses that are struggling because we can't afford to keep seeing the life centre of the villages and suburbs that make up this country being decimated and pushed over the edge and having proprietors when their lease comes up say I just don't want to sign up to another lease. There's too much cost. There's too much uncertainty." One of the biggest costs that is being put on to people like that is the income tax that their staff are forced to pay.But here's another aspect of income tax that some people don't think of. We are told that when you buy a litre of petrol around about $1.40 of that is excise tax and GST and emissions trading scheme levies and a couple of other minor levies that are put on to a litre of petrol; they add up to $1.40. But what they don't tell you is that if you do a full economic analysis of what people are paying in terms of total tax to buy a litre of petrol you'll also have to go out and earn the money and when you do that you pay income tax.If I can go back to the heady days through the mists of time when a litre of petrol 91 was only $3 I'm talking about sort of last week before the latest increases think about what it actually means to go out and earn a dollar so that you can fill up the tank and actually pay to take the kids to hockey practice or rugby practice. I've heard from people having to decide which kids to take to practice because they just can't afford to go anywhere. I'm getting on social media young people sending pictures of their whole flat sitting around at home because they can't afford to go anywhere. I'm hearing from people who are saying "We are not going to work anymore because by the time you factor in all of the costs including petrol we can't afford to do it."But let's go back to that full analysis of how much tax people are paying to get a litre of petrol. Well it's not $3—if we just take round numbers—and then $1.40 on tax and $1.60 for the oil and the refining and the retailer. By the way does anyone remember when "We're going to reduce the price of petrol by having a market study."? I think that was Kris Faafoi. I think he said that the 18c importer margin was going to go down 32c. He actually believed that BP and Mobil and Z Energy they were all going to pay 14c a litre for the pleasure of selling it to you.But the thing is it's not just that $1.40 of tax that you're paying. Actually if you're paying a marginal rate of 33c on the dollar and if you're on the average wage you almost are actually to spend $3 at the pump you have to earn $4.50 then you pay 33c in the dollar in income tax. And you've got $3 and then you buy a litre of petrol from BP or Mobil or wherever—I hear it's cheaper at Waitomo—then you pay $1.40 of that in tax. So the total tax that people are being hit with when you talk about the income tax is not just the $1.40; it's the $1.50 of income tax then the excise tax then the GST then the levies. Actually you're paying $2.90 of tax in order to buy 1 litre of petrol. People don't often say this; they just focus on what you pay at the pump. But actually when you buy a litre of petrol you have to earn $4 50 if your marginal rate is 33c pay $1.50 in tax $1.40 in taxes that are in the petrol and to get $1.60 litre of petrol you pay $2.90 in petrol.Now of course that was back through the mists of time you know two weeks ago when you could actually get a litre of 91 for three bucks that's no longer the case. But it makes the point that these income tax rates that we are debating make a very real contribution to what people are paying at every stage of life. It has a huge impact on the cost of living crisis that people face because it's not just petrol. People are finding that if they want to buy a 2 litre bottle of it—CHAIRPERSON (Ian McKelvie): Can I just remind members that if I have to wear a mask it'd be good if everyone in the Chamber wore a mask. Sorry.DAVID SEYMOUR: No problem Mr Chair. It's good to see everyone observing the COVID restrictions.If you want to buy for example 2 litres of milk and if you think you can get it very cheap for $4 but let's be realistic it's actually for most people $5. And the thing is of that $5 they're paying well there's 15 percent GST in there. So that's about 70c of GST they're paying. But what people miss is that if you're over $70000 you have to go along and earn an extra $7.50 to pay for that milk and pay the income tax that comes with it. So really when you buy a $5 bottle of milk you're paying $2 50 income tax then 70c of GST you're actually paying $3.20 of tax to get a 2-litre bottle of milk.We need to reduce these tax because it's everywhere."