Wait, how could we get new taxes?<\/p>\n
It’s tricky to see a universe where all the so-called “taxes” do indeed happen in a government. This is where National’s claim has been argued to be misleading by Hipkins. <\/p>\n
For all nine initiatives to happen, Labour would need to form a government<\/a> with the help of the Greens, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori and Opportunity, and then decide to concede on every major tax policy each of those parties is currently running on. <\/p>\n A National Party billboard. (Source: Simeon Brown MP\/Facebook)<\/p>\n Hipkins has ruled out Labour adopting virtually any of them. <\/p>\n National’s counter is that Hipkins’ word is not the only one that matters and that when push comes to shove on forming a coalition, Labour might waver to gain power. <\/p>\n National’s call-out<\/a> was careful to attribute the nine to “Labour and its prospective coalition”, with Nicola Willis saying Labour’s “mates” were “planning a raft of new taxes”.<\/p>\n “The reality is Labour has made around $18 billion worth of spending promises to New Zealanders, and it needs to pay for those promises somehow,” said National’s campaign chairperson Simeon Brown. <\/p>\n The smaller parties have generally refused to rule out their tax policies as non-negotiable before coalition talks. Here’s a look at those “nine new taxes”. <\/p>\n Party leader Christopher Luxon axed both ideas as a part of a \u2018no new taxes\u2019 election pledge. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n What Labour wants<\/p>\n Labour has proposed a narrow capital gains tax as one of the measures it claims will help fund flagship policies, such as three free GP visits and more money for health.<\/p>\n The party said, if elected it would introduce a set 28% capital gains tax<\/a> on commercial and residential property, excluding key assets such as the family home, farms, KiwiSaver, shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items.<\/p>\n Money generated would be partly used to fund three free doctor’s visits, and any leftover funds would be ring-fenced for healthcare and the health system. The tax, if implemented, would take effect from July 1, 2027 and would not apply retrospectively.<\/p>\n National counts this as one of its “nine” new taxes. <\/p>\n Labour is adopting the same surplus timeline forecast in Budget 2026 but promising a different route to it. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n It also counts two others which Labour has stated are not new “taxes” at all. <\/p>\n What Labour doesn’t want – and National calls a new tax<\/p>\n The Government introduced its “Investment Boost” scheme in 2025, and it’s effectively a tax incentive for all businesses. It allows a business to immediately deduct 20% of the cost of a new asset, on top of depreciation, reducing the tax bill in the year of purchase.<\/p>\n Labour has said it won’t keep the Government’s scheme and will instead replace it with a more modest set of tax changes<\/a> for smaller businesses and some sole traders. National claims this is a “Business Tax” since it removes the rebate for all businesses.<\/p>\n Simeon Brown said it would “hike taxes by 20% on business owners wanting to buy the machinery and equipment,” and amount to a “$5 billion” tax grab.<\/p>\n Package would cost\u00a0$1.56 billion\u00a0over four years, funding by a “refocusing” of the Government’s investment boost policy.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n Hipkins justified the scrapping by saying the Government’s scheme had been a “flop”.<\/p>\n “Giving a company chief executive a tax rebate when they go and buy a new BMW isn’t going to grow the economy. Supporting small businesses will,” he told media in August.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, National also claims Labour wants a “Digital Tax”. <\/p>\n The party’s claim originates from the former Labour government’s<\/a> Digital Services Tax Bill, introduced in 2023, which was only scuttled by the coalition last year. <\/p>\n When the bill was pulled from the agenda, Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds accused the Government of “effectively handing a $479 million tax break to global tech giants, like Facebook and Google”.<\/p>\n That bill would’ve enabled a new tax on multinationals making over \u20ac750 million (about $1.5 billion) a year from global digital services, and more than $3.5 million from services provided to local users.<\/p>\n However, Labour has denied they want to reinstate the tax if elected.<\/p>\n What the Greens and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori want<\/p>\n Five other “taxes” on National’s list come from the Greens’ and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori tax policy. <\/p>\n The party wants to add a new higher tax rate on income made over $160,000. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n What National dubs the “Asset Tax”, “Inheritance Tax” and “Gift Tax” refer to the Greens’ proposals<\/a> for a 2.5% annual tax on net assets above $10 million, and a 33% tax on the value of covered gifts and inheritances above $1 million<\/p>\n The proposed “45% Top Rate” would apply to income over $160,000, alongside a new $10,000 tax-free threshold the Greens say would ultimately give 96% of Kiwis a tax cut.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori is proposing<\/a> a tax on net assets above $2 million, a 48% top income tax rate, and a 5% stamp duty on some residential sales.<\/p>\n All of these tax proposals have been firmly ruled out by Labour and Hipkins. <\/p>\n The government hopes the policy will drive down rent costs \u2013 but politicians don\u2019t agree on the evidence. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n The fifth, what National calls the “Rentals Tax”, refers to the Greens’ plan to stop landlords deducting mortgage interest from their rental income.<\/p>\n That would reverse a change made by the current Government, which restored deductibility after the previous Labour government attempted to phase it out.<\/p>\n Labour hasn’t ruled out keeping the coalition’s changes, but it hasn’t committed to it either. It had however previously derisively called them “tax cuts for landlords”.<\/p>\n What Opportunity wants<\/p>\n The last tax on National’s list is Opportunity’s proposed annual land value tax<\/a> of 1.75% on urban land and 0.5% on rural land, which the party says would bring house prices down.<\/p>\n Called the “Land Tax” by National, Opportunity says it would help fund a $19,400-a-year “citizen’s income”- otherwise known as universal basic income – paid to most adults.<\/p>\n National Party leader says: \u201cWhen you want to spend more tax… borrow more, we\u00a0ain’t\u00a0doing business with you\u201d.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n Hipkins and Labour’s finance spokesperson Edmonds have rejected<\/a> the policy.<\/p>\n “We won’t support the tax policy put forward by Opportunity, we also won’t support the wealth taxes, land taxes and other things put forward by the Greens either,” Hipkins said.<\/p>\n Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong has said the package would be a tax cut for 70% of New Zealanders, with 20% “about neutral” and 10% “paying slightly more”.<\/p>\n What does no new taxes even mean?<\/p>\n “No new taxes” has become a second-term mantra for Luxon, but some government policies still raise what New Zealanders pay \u2014 and the line between a “new tax” and a raised tax, or a new charge is doing some heavy lifting.<\/p>\n For example, legislation to enable congestion charging in Auckland has already been passed but it’s up to the council to help progress a scheme into place. <\/p>\n Under one possible option, motorists might be charged up to $7 a trip to use central sections of Auckland’s motorways at peak. <\/p>\n Neither the final routes nor prices have been decided.<\/p>\n Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown wants a peak hour payment of up to $5 on two choked stretches of city motorway (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a-national-party-billboard-MJAFXSHBFFAW3EGVPMGFTV4UJM.jpg\")
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