Carter Chris: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Carter Chris: Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 20 May 2010. Volume:663;Page:11142. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Labour—Te Atatu) 
: 
 I rise in the Committee in an unusual circumstance in that I agree with John Boscawen. It is not often that I do that but I certainly agree with the comments he just made about this Budget. 
Moana Mackey 
: Not on the ETS. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: Not all of it but most of it. 
Essentially this Budget is a fraud. It is a fraud because it is about transferring wealth from the poorest New Zealanders to the richest. You know one of the myths of this country perpetuated by conservative politicians led by John Key is that somehow we are an overtaxed country. It is a case of “Never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.” The reality is that in the OECD New Zealand has the third-lowest rate of personal taxation among developed countries. Where will this transfer of wealth impact? It will impact on the delivery of services in this country. 
National and its coalition partners are saying that for having $90 in the pocket of a rich New Zealander we will third-rate social services and Government services. Education is an excellent example. Four-hundred million dollars has been taken out of early childhood education. How will that cut impact? It is saying to early childhood education centres where they have qualified teachers that it does not matter who is working with those children and it does not matter how well educated or how lacking in skills the teachers are. The Government is saying that that does not count. 
As a former teacher and as a former Minister of Education I know that a child’s education journey—his or her success in education—begins with quality early childhood education. One of the great crocodile tears presented by the current National Government is about underachievement in our country. It is about the tail of unsuccessful students in our schools the 18 to 20 percent. Actually that is the standard percentage in all developed countries but we will not explore that. 
How will this Budget help them? In Manukau City 23 percent of children at the moment go to early childhood education and that might include one afternoon at the local church so there is very variable quality but 23 percent of new entrants going into primary schools have been to early childhood education. The statistics from Manukau City and the failure of many students there in their educational achievement rests on that poor basis. How will a cut to early childhood education of $400 million—the $400 million being taken out of early childhood education to pay for tax cuts for the richest New Zealanders—impact on underachievement in our schools? It will make it worse not better and the same is true with the so-called 4 percent operations grant that has gone into schools. Actually with the GST rise and the projected 5.9 percent inflation rate schools are effectively getting a cut. They will get less in their operations grant than they currently have because of the changed economic circumstances. 
So the nonsense we heard yesterday from Mr Key—that there is an increase in funding for education—is just that. It is a fraud. Schools will have fewer resources to spend on lifting educational achievement in New Zealand. I wonder how the Maori Party will address that question because it will impact particularly on those students who figure largely in our underachievement statistics—that is Maori and Pasifika children. The very kids we want to lift up are being disadvantaged because wealthy New Zealanders are getting a tax cut. 
I read in the media the other day that this tax cut and the changes in our tax system will take $16 billion out of the New Zealand economy over the next 4 years. We are currently borrowing $250 million a week to bridge the deficit. We are borrowing while at the same time we are cutting $16 billion out of our Government’s resources. What madness! Can members imagine any other developed country doing that? Why is it happening? Because National is catering to the constituency that put it into power. 
The swing voters in the middle will see over the next year—and I think my colleague Steve Chadwick from Rotorua talked about this—what these cuts actually mean. The  
New Zealand Herald 
 I think this morning referred to it as a thousand little cuts. Well it could be a death by a thousand cuts. I ask members to go into the education system to see what cuts are being made there.