Mountain of submissions on tax bill
An unprecedented number of submissions have been made to Parliament on the bill proposing changes to the way investments are taxed.
Thursday, August 3rd 2006, 6:47AM
Finance and Expenditure select committee chairman Shane Jones said yesterday that 3681 submissions have been made.He told Parliament that “about 37 hours have been set aside to hear those submissioners who want to be heard.”
National Finance spokesman John Key says that “it is normal to receive about 50 submissions on a taxation bill,” and “that it is highly unique that we have received approximately 3,600”.
"The number of submissions on this bill shows the overwhelming level of concern people have about the Government introducing a capital gains tax on their savings,” Key says.
"IRD estimates that about 20,000 people who have shares in companies in the US, Britain and five other 'grey list' countries will be hit by the tax.
"They will also be hit by substantial compliance costs. This is a complex system to understand, and advice from accountants is that it could cost affected people some $500 in accounting fees each year. That makes a total of $10 million in costs, and all for a measly $8 million in taxes for the Crown.
Key again labeled the proposed changes as a “tax grab” and said that opposes them. “We expect that almost all of the submissions to the select committee will oppose it as well."
I’ll stick my head out here and make a bold prediction: The government will back down on its proposed changes to tax on investments. They won’t go through Parliament in their present form. [Read On]
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