{"id":607979,"date":"2026-09-22T08:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/607979\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T08:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:06:09","slug":"election-2026-they-should-eat-their-words-government-labour-spar-over-tax-cuts-for-landlords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/607979\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: \u2018They should eat their words\u2019 \u2013 Government, Labour spar over \u2018tax cuts for landlords\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis, responding to a patsy question set up for her by backbencher Nancy Lu, listed several quotes from Labour slamming the Government\u2019s \u201ctax cuts for landlords\u201d forming what Willis called a \u201cconstant barrage of criticism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTax cuts for landlords became a mantra, it was recited ad nauseam, with one member of Parliament stating this Government has consistently made the wrong choices. They have prioritised tax cuts for landlords, and another stating, \u2018we certainly wouldn\u2019t be giving tax cuts to landlords\u2019,\u201d Willis said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey [Labour] should eat their words.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government used its patsy question and much of its answers to questions from the Opposition to talk about Labour\u2019s interest deductibility stance and capital gains tax, as Green Party co-leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick futilely tried to steer the debate to social issues by heckling about homelessness and social housing, while Hipkins and Labour deputy Carmel Sepuloni stared at their phones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been many reports over the last three years of people calling interest deductibility a so-called tax cut for landlords,\u201d National\u2019s Chris Bishop said, \u201cit seems that position no longer holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yesterday evening, Hipkins revealed in a routine stand-up<\/a> with media that Labour would not reintroduce the rule it had heavily criticised National for removing.<\/p>\n

Hipkins confirmed Labour would continue to allow residential property investors to deduct mortgage interest as an expense when paying tax.<\/p>\n

Finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds said the party had \u201cchanged our decision\u201d on the deductibility because it had since promised a capital gains tax. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they may be getting interest deductibility now, however when we bring in a new tax \u2013 it\u2019s a timing issue, whether they get that deduction at the capital gains tax time when they dispose of the property or when the rental income is earned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hipkins said Labour would not have introduced the so-called tax cut for landlords if it had been in government, yet \u201cthe question is now where do we go next?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur decision now is rather than reversing that one is to introduce a capital gains tax instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes after two potshot-filled final caucus runs for Labour and National, fuelled by Labour\u2019s revelation on interest deductibility and National\u2019s ongoing claims the left bloc would introduce \u201cnine new taxes\u201d, a message it has plastered across election billboards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is humiliating and I think you can\u2019t trust these guys on [tax],\u201d National\u2019s Chris Bishop said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who thinks they won\u2019t reintroduce interest deductibility changes, they will. I just think they are dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simeon Brown, who recently took over as campaign chair from Bishop, said Labour was \u201cdesperate\u201d and \u201cfeeling the pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s Kieran McAnulty said he had \u201cno time for Simeon Brown\u201d before appearing to show slightly more warmth for Bishop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they changed campaign chair from Chris Bishop to Simeon Brown, I said to our team, right, we are going to be dealing with a dishonest campaign now,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no time for Simeon Brown; I consider him a dishonest person and that is playing out in this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis, responding to a patsy question set up for her by backbencher Nancy Lu,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,9092,20934,89,299593,1738,803,11687,10666,128612,15416,5903,2082,266,23785,12469,6721,27699,38530,101,83935,111,43,139,69,1523,2171,8244,177968,16402,46028,3271,299592,7496,165,8229,13797,5977,26157,6730],"class_list":["post-607979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-against","tag-ammunition","tag-attack","tag-blocs","tag-campaign","tag-continue","tag-criticised","tag-cuts","tag-deduction","tag-eat","tag-election","tag-for","tag-government","tag-heavily","tag-interest","tag-labour","tag-labours","tag-landlords","tag-left","tag-monthslong","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-plans","tag-recent","tag-revelation","tag-reverse","tag-rule","tag-should","tag-spar","tag-tax","tag-their","tag-they","tag-used","tag-which","tag-words","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}