On the other hand, the Greens are focusing on taxing the rich, imposing a levy on the four big banks, and taxing offshore profits earned by tech giants.
NZ Herald chief political reporter Jamie Ensor told The Front Page that National unveiled a major KiwiSaver policy at its annual conference, built around four main changes.
“The largest part of it being that they will make KiwiSaver or an equivalent retirement scheme compulsory for all workers.
“Now, that’s quite a big shift for the National Party. They historically have rallied against these types of mandatory retirement schemes. But that was really the centrepiece of the policy.
“They say that KiwiSaver is becoming more and more popular. They want to reinforce that saving from a young age is really important, so it’ll help people down the line, and there was a really strong reception to that amongst National Party members.
“On top of that, they are proposing that there be automatic enrolment for babies at birth, and that would be supported by a $1500 contribution.
“That’s really interesting because New Zealand First actually has a similar policy, but they’re only offering $1000, so National is clearly trying to one-up their coalition partners there.
“There’s also support for parents when they’re off on parental leave. At the moment, there isn’t necessarily any obligation for the parents to be getting KiwiSaver contributions if they aren’t making contributions themselves. National’s saying that they will pay contributions even if those parents aren’t putting money into their own KiwiSavers.
“And then, finally, National would require employers to continue making contributions to people over the age of 65 who are working. At the moment, if you get to 65, there’s no obligation on your employer to continue giving you a KiwiSaver contribution,” he said.
Green Party co-leaders Chloe Swarbrick (left) and Marama Davidson make a tax policy announcement in Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Meanwhile, the Green Party’s tax package includes a 2.5% tax on the net assets of the super-rich, above $10 million.
It also sets a higher tax rate for large corporates, a levy on our four big banks, and a tax on tech companies’ offshore profits.
“It’s no surprise they want to go after the super wealthy … What was interesting about this tax plan is that it does dramatically rein in the Greens’ ambitions.
“If you go back to last year’s plan, that was an $88 billion package of new revenue with many different types of new taxes. This one is still $32b, so it’s still a lot of money, and it’s still what the Greens stand for.
“But it is a less ambitious package. That is partly down to some changes they’ve made to their wealth tax proposal. Under the previous plan, the one they put out last year, they would tax net assets above $2m. They’ve now changed that to net assets above $10m.
“I think that is a signal from the Greens that they understand that ordinary people who might have a bit of wealth put aside, they might have an expensive home that’s gone up in valuation, or they have some other assets that might be worth a bit of money, they don’t want those people to get worried that the Greens are coming after them,” Ensor said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
National’s KiwiSaver overhaulA softer Greens approachLuxon and pollingSenior MPs at risk.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.