Hutchison Paul: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Hutchison Paul: Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:18985] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Chairperson for the opportunity to speak on clauses 1 and 2 of the Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill which deal with the title and commencement. Firstly the title is totally appropriate to ensure the viability of the KiwiSaver and Working for Families schemes. Secondly the commencement is also totally appropriate and well signalled to the people of New Zealand who will have their opportunity to vote on these measures on 26 November and I am sure they will do so resoundingly. 
I noted that Moana Mackey asked why the first bill we are considering in the Budget legislation is about adjusting KiwiSaver. I just happen to have here a graph that shows the extrapolation of what would happen if the spending that happened under a Labour Government continued in the same way it had done pre-2008. It shows that Government spending as a percentage of GDP would balloon to 60 percent by 2023. That is the reason why this legislation is part of the Government’s wise pragmatic and prudential agenda to ensure the long-term sustainability of the KiwiSaver scheme and the Working for Families scheme both of which are adjusted in a fair sensible and intelligent way particularly Working for Families. 
Heather Roy made the point the other day when she asked why she should as a mother of five be eligible for significant tax credits when she was on a salary of $125000. If one looks at the Working for Families adjustments one sees that they do favour those who are less well-off and they curb the generosity to those earning over the $100000 mark. 
I noted that Kris Faafoi talked about the campaign to save KiwiSaver but little does he realise or have insight into where the New Zealand economy has gone under the auspices of the failure of the previous Government to be prepared to save at the appropriate time. I was fascinated to read in the  
New Zealand Herald  
this morning that people like Owen Glenn who is a friend of the Labour Party say that it is about time that Kiwis started to show individual responsibility. Owen Glenn said that adult Kiwis are given opportunities through generous health and education systems and that they must learn to spontaneously look after themselves for their retirement. Here we have a scheme that despite these minor adjustments will still allow the Government to assist with billions of dollars per year providing generous incentives to help Kiwis save. 
Clare Curran and Dr Rajen Prasad said that the Government was making it up. Well the Government certainly did not make it up when we realised that under Labour the number of Public Service staff increased from 26000 to 39000 with a decrease in productivity. We saw a doubling of spending in health from $6 billion to $12 billion with a decrease in productivity; up to 130000 people were on waiting lists and those lists were being culled. Of course in the last 3 years we have seen an enormous increase in productivity and an increase of up to 400 extra elective surgeries per week. The Government did not make up the fact that when Labour increased the top tax rate to 39c in the dollar the number of loss-attributing qualifying companies flourished throughout New Zealand and totally distorted our tax system.