Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill Debated Under Urgency

After the Budget debate was interrupted, MPs debated the Taxation (Budget Measures) Bill under Urgency.

This bill amongst other things abolishes 3 tax credits: the transitional tax credit (also known as the income under $9,880 tax credit), the housekeepers tax credit, and the children's active income tax credit. These reforms apply for the current 2012-13 and later tax years.

It completed first reading by 64 to 57 with National, Maori Party, ACT and United Future supporting.

During the debate the Opposition accused the Government of ``picking the pockets’’ of children, but Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said it was a tidy up of redundant tax provisions, loopholes and distortions.

``We are pinning the last nail in the Muldoon coffin,’’ Dunne said.

Labour’s Grant Robertson said there would be more than 60,000 children hit by the loss of the active income tax credit

Debate continued through the evening with the House rising at 10pm interrupting the committee stage debate on part two of the bill.

Parliament will resume tomorrow to pass the bill through its remaining stages and all stages of the Social Security (Long-term Residential Care-Budget Measures) Amendment Bill.

This bill amends the Social Security Act 1964 to change the amount of the annual increase in the applicable asset thresholds used in determining the amount residents in aged residential care have to contribute to the cost of their care.

The Government also intends to complete the first reading of the Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products-Budget Measures) Amendment Bill.

This bill amends the Customs and Excise Act 1996 to make 4 cumulative 10 percent increases to the duties on all tobacco products.

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