Fletcher Tabuteau

New Zealand First Deputy Leader

Spokesperson for Revenue
3 October 2018

Research And Development Tax Incentive a New Zealand First Win

New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Revenue Spokesperson Fletcher Tabuteau strongly supports the research and development tax incentive for businesses released today by Research, Science and Innovation Minister Hon Megan Woods and Revenue Minister Hon Stuart Nash.

“Today’s announcement marks another milestone in delivering the coalition agreement between Labour and New Zealand First,” Fletcher Tabuteau said.

“In the coalition document Labour agreed to support a number of New Zealand First priorities, and one of those was to work to increase Research and Development spending to two per cent of GDP over 10 years,” he said.

“This has led to an announcement today which is a significant outcome for the business community. Increasing Research and Development spending will encourage innovative business investment in New Zealand, and help fuel long term economic growth.”

“As a party, New Zealand First welcomes the constructive work of the Coalition Government Ministers in the development of these research and development incentives,” he said.

The key components of the R&D tax incentive are:

• 2,000 businesses and start-ups to benefit from the new incentive from April 2019

• Aims to boost R&D spending to 2 per cent of GDP within a decade

• Companies can claim a 15 per cent rebate if spending $50,000 or more on R&D

• A definition of R&D that ensures the credit can be accessed more easily across all sectors, including the technology sector

“This is a key policy initiative and is a momentous occasion for businesses looking to get ahead of their international competitors.

“New Zealand First understands the fundamental importance that investment into research and development makes towards helping businesses be innovative and improve their export potential, while at the same time contributing to creating more skilled jobs and economic growth.

“That is why we negotiated hard to ensure the budget for R&D would be increased and be made more accessible to businesses,” Fletcher Tabuteau said.

ENDS

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