Hide Rodney: Taxation (Annual Rates Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — Second Reading 
Hide Rodney: Taxation (Annual Rates Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:606;Page:3928] 
RODNEY HIDE (ACT NZ) 
: 
 What an honour it is to follow Dr Don Brash who headed up the Brash committee on taxation which produced a very very fine report indeed. I wish David Cunliffe had read it and I wish David Benson-Pope had read it and then they might have paid attention to what Dr Brash had to say. The fourth Labour Government certainly paid attention to it. I am very pleased also in speaking to this bill to see that my good friend and colleague Annette King is down here in the House. I am looking forward to her speech confirming the tax rates because I remember her as a Cabinet Minister supporting a Government that took the top rate of tax down to 33c. At the time she was 100 percent behind it. I have to say that at the time I voted for it. In fact it was so scary I realised I voted for Jim Anderton because I lived in his electorate. Annette King took the top rate of tax down to 33c. Members should ask themselves about that. Annette King really owes this House an explanation does she not? If it was a good idea to take it down to 33c in the eighties why was it such a good idea to take it up to 39c in the nineties? 
Hon Annette King 
: Will the member stand aside and let me tell him? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: The member can have a 10-minute speech if she cares to take a call. She is the most senior member in the House so I look forward to Annette King rather than trying to shut down the Opposition spending some Government time standing up in this House and explaining why she voted for 33c in the eighties voted for 39c in the nineties and again this week is voting for a 39c tax rate. 
The ACT party will be voting against this bill because we think that the 39c tax rate is wrong. We thought Annette King was right when she voted for 33c. We thought Peter Dunne was right when he voted for 33c and I look forward to my good friend and colleague Mr Copeland taking a call and explaining why he supports voting this week for a tax rate of 39c because that is what United future is doing. 
Hon Annette King 
: Catch up. It has been that for 3 years. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Annette King says the Government has been doing that for 3 years. I know and I have been saying the same thing for 3 years. It is wrong. But every year Annette King comes down here and votes for 39c when before she used to come down every year and vote for 33c. I would like to know from her what she has learnt or what has changed in those years to make a difference. So we will vote against it. 
Hon Annette King 
: It used to be 66c. He doesn’t want to hear that bit. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: It is very nice that Ms Annette King wants to explain her principles to us by way of interjection. But I invite her just to take a call and let me make my point in relative silence. She is most welcome to take a call. But maybe Helen Clark does not let Annette King speak on matters of tax. [ 
Interruption 
] Maybe Helen Clark does not take the opportunity to give a speech. ACT will be voting against the bill for those reasons. 
A second reason that we will vote against it is that in the Finance and Expenditure Committee we did not agree with taxing Maori authorities at 25c in the dollar. That is wrong. We did not agree with not allowing Maori authorities imputation credits. That is wrong. Maori authorities should be taxed like every other agency and organisation in New Zealand. Our taxation system should not be based on race ethnicity religious belief or creed. We should be taxed according to the rules and those rules should not apply to the agency that we belong to or to our race. 
Gordon Copeland 
: On income. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: My friend Mr Copeland pipes up and says that it should be based on one’s income— 
Gordon Copeland 
: Marginal tax rate. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Absolutely! That is why we advocated imputation credits. I say to Mr Copeland that that is how the taxation system in New Zealand works. Mr McNair will back me up when I say that every Maori authority that appeared before the select committee said it was good that they were to be taxed at 19.5c in the dollar. They said: “If you want to grow a business you want to be taxed low because that way you get to keep more of what you make and you are allowed to reinvest it—plough it back into making more money and into making your shareholders and people prosper.” Every authority said that and Mr Copeland will confirm that that is so. That is why the Minister of Revenue Michael Cullen is doing this. It is an advantage to Maori authorities to have a lower tax rate. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: That’s right.