\u201cWhy should he be able to make more than $600,000 in one year from flipping properties, whilst the people who go out and work hard every day for a living pay tax on every single dollar that they earn?\u201d<\/p>\n
Christopher Luxon made over $600,000 tax-free from flipping houses while ordinary workers pay tax on every dollar they earn. Photo \/ Jamie Ensor<\/p>\n
Luxon was registered as having two residential properties and one investment property in Auckland, in the 2025 Register of Pecuniary Interests.<\/p>\n
He had two residential properties in Auckland, one residential property in Wellington and four investment properties in Auckland in last year\u2019s register.<\/p>\n
Labour has previously criticised Luxon<\/a> for making money, tax-free, from property sales in an effort to argue the tax system is unfair.<\/p>\n Asked about his own property portfolio, Hipkins said he owned a family home and a beach house. He said he would happily pay a capital gains tax if he sold that beach house after July 2027.<\/p>\n Speaking in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Luxon disputed flipping properties.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t flipped properties,\u201d Luxon said.<\/a> \u201cBut it\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about New Zealanders, and I\u2019m just saying to you, taxing Kiwi businesses is not the way forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to grow Kiwi businesses, we want to back entrepreneurs that want to grow companies and build companies, and actually, this is a tax on every single business in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n Hipkins gives more policy detail<\/p>\n Asked about the GP workforce\u2019s ability to meet Labour\u2019s policy of three free GP visits a year for everyone, Hipkins said it wouldn\u2019t kick in straight away.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve set ourselves a year and a half implementation timeline, so the full eligibility will kick in from July 1, 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cThat gives us a year and a half to make sure we\u2019re working through the commitments that we\u2019ve made around freeing up the four and a half million extra GP visits so that our GP practices can actually cope with any increase in demand.\u201d<\/p>\n Hipkins hinted Labour would be releasing further policy aimed at getting more GPs into the health system.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019ll be further announcements between now and the election. Of all the other aspects of our health policy, workforce is clearly going to be a focus for us. We know that our health workforce is under a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n The Labour leader spoke at a Council of Trade Unions (CTU)<\/a> conference at Te Papa on Wednesday afternoon, telling union reps he was determined to make the coalition the country\u2019s first National-led one-term Government.<\/p>\n The CTU earlier called on opposition parties to deliver fair pay agreements, automatic union membership and contractor reform in the first 100 days of a new Government, if elected next year.<\/p>\n Hipkins committed to reinstating fair pay agreements \u201cquickly\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that I think we can reflect on from last time is, because it took such a long time to get fair pay agreements in place, we weren\u2019t seeing the benefits of that enough by the election.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to make sure we don\u2019t repeat that mistake, so get them back in place quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n Hipkins also committed to reinstating the 30-day rule so new workers are automatically covered by collective agreements, and said Labour would have a fully costed commitment on pay equity before next year\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n Pushed on how open he was to changing Labour\u2019s tax policy, in light of the Greens advocating to go further<\/a>, Hipkins said he would not be budging on it.<\/p>\n \u201cLabour will vote in favour of the policy that we are campaigning on and we will not go beyond that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hipkins said he was not \u201ca complete pushover\u201d like Luxon.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the smaller parties should call all of the shots,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be like Christopher Luxon, roll over and let Winston Peters and David Seymour tickle your tummy.\u201d<\/p>\nChris Hipkins has committed to reinstating Fair Pay Agreements and has emphasised Labour’s focus on the health workforce. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n