Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018-19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) Bill

Members, we now come to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018-19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) Bill. The question is That Part 1 stand part. I call Stuart Smith. No, sorry—Alastair Scott. I apologise. It’s been a long night, Mr Scott. I apologise. And it’s probably the first time I’ve called you this evening too, isn’t it. I apologise.

Lenses, Madam Chair—lenses, I know.

💬 Kieran McAnulty: They don’t know him in the Wairarapa either!

I have the same problem, Madam Chair.

He can’t help himself. He can’t help himself. But nevertheless, he knows he’s lost twice and he’s going to lose again.

If I could start off by suggesting that this bill was a missed opportunity, and I’m going to cover off a couple of points where the opportunity was lost. My first point relates to the KiwiSaver enhancements. Now, there are some good points introduced by way of the bill. The semantics is there. They’ve decided to call “contribution holidays” a “savings suspension”. We support that. The five years’ break is reduced to one. That’s also good. And there are options for contributing greater amounts: a 6 percent and 10 percent band is being allowed for. But I think the opportunity here that’s been lost is that KiwiSaver is a good concept, in my view. But the opportunity here was for the Government to encourage and enable more people to participate in the KiwiSaver scheme. There could have been greater incentive for those who are not in the KiwiSaver scheme to be part of the KiwiSaver scheme. The Government talks about homeownership as being an issue—the number of homeowners is declining, and so on and so forth—and KiwiSaver, as we know, is a fantastic mechanism to enable first-home buyers to get into their first house. That’s great. There are also incentives currently: $10,000 a person, or more if they’re a couple and if they’ve been in KiwiSaver for five years. So it’s a great mechanism in more ways than one—not just for saving for retirement. But my point here is that the opportunity was there for the Government to encourage more people to participate, because we know that those who are not in KiwiSaver could be and should be.

So I am asking the Minister in the chair, Megan Woods, to tell me and the committee, why was there not more work done—given the nine years in Opposition they had to think about their policies and so forth—to encourage people into this scheme? Because those who can’t afford to be in the scheme are not in. Those who are least well off, the poorest of us, are not in KiwiSaver, and that is a lost opportunity. The second—

I apologise to the member. The time has come for me to report progress.

House resumed.

The Chairperson reported the Crimes Amendment Bill with amendment, progress on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018-19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) Bill, and no progress on the Accident Compensation Amendment Bill.

Report adopted.

The House adjourned at 9.56 p.m.