{"id":610627,"date":"2026-09-24T20:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610627\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T20:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:06:10","slug":"new-survey-shows-two-thirds-of-kiwis-want-wealth-tax-labours-control-of-main-issues-slipping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610627\/","title":{"rendered":"New survey shows two-thirds of Kiwis want wealth tax, Labour\u2019s control of main issues slipping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">The survey asked respondents which political party they felt was most capable of managing issues facing the country. Labour led in the top five issues and 10 of the remaining 15, which included education, taxation, immigration, household debt, transport, race relations and fuel prices.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Chris Hipkins insists Labour will only introduce a capital gains tax. Photo \/ NZME\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Chris Hipkins insists Labour will only introduce a capital gains tax. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">National was considered more capable on crime and foreign affairs\/defence. The Green Party was considered the authority on climate change and water concerns, while Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori led on issues facing M\u0101ori. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">However, a closer look at the data shows the share of respondents who felt Labour was most capable of managing each of the top five issues has decreased since the last survey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">The most marked drop was in unemployment, with Labour falling from 42% to 34%, while National was steady at 21%. People unsure which party was most capable increased from 11% to 14%. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Labour and National suffered four percentage point dips in being considered capable of managing the cost of living and were at 31% and 21% respectively. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">A large gulf remained in health. Labour dropped from 41% to 38%, and National improved one percentage point to 21%. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Ipsos was in the field when National was attacking Labour over potential taxes it could introduce, highlighting policies promoted by potential coalition partners the Greens, Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori and Opportunity, despite Labour insisting it will only introduce a capital gains tax.<\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">On taxation, Labour\u2019s perceived management ability fell from 33% to 28%, while National was up one percentage point to 25%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">The survey digs deeper into taxation, showing that while it was not in Kiwis\u2019 top 10 concerns, the proportion of respondents naming taxation as one of their three most important issues increased to 8% \u2013 the highest since the last election. During the past three years, taxation had been among the three most important issues for between 4% and 6% of people across 11 surveys. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis has been a key figure in her party's attacks on Labour over tax. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell \" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis has been a key figure in her party&#8217;s attacks on Labour over tax. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">It found a roughly even split between those who believed they should pay less tax (44%) and those who felt they paid the right amount (45%). Some 4% of respondents felt they should be paying more. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">More than half (52%) of people aged 34-49 wanted fewer taxes, compared to 35% of people aged over 65. About 58% of people aged over 65 felt taxes were at an appropriate level, compared with 36% of people aged 34-49.<\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Asked what taxes they\u2019d support, almost two-thirds (64%) favoured a 2.5% wealth tax on net assets above $10 million, except for the family home. The Green Party and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori have wealth tax policies. A quarter (26%) did not support a wealth tax and 10% were unsure. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Similar proportions of respondents supported taxes on inheritance (49% in favour v 35% against), short-term visitor accommodation stays (48% v 36% against) and capital gains (45% v 40% against). <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Broken down by party, Green Party supporters were the most likely to support a wealth tax (89%), compared with 72% of Opportunity supporters and 76% of Labour supporters. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Almost half of Winston Peters' supporters surveyed by Ipsos say they are in favour of a wealth tax. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell \" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Almost half of Winston Peters&#8217; supporters surveyed by Ipsos say they are in favour of a wealth tax. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Almost half of National supporters (47%) were in favour of a wealth tax, slightly below the 48% of New Zealand First voters surveyed but above the 43% of Act supporters. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Slightly more than half (56%) of Labour supporters wanted its party\u2019s proposed capital gains tax, less than the 77% of Greens supporters and 66% of Opportunity supporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">The Opportunity Party\u2019s main policy, a land value tax, had lower backing among its own supporters than a wealth tax, an inheritance tax, a bed tax and a capital gains tax. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">The Government\u2019s performance rating had stayed largely consistent with previous surveys at a mean score of 4.1 out of 10. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zEEGoQobVQRR\" style=\"display:none\">Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald\u2019s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei and the Herald in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The survey asked respondents which political party they felt was most capable of managing issues facing the country.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,62925,3225,1863,1288,10474,13988,2964,8760,49720,1452,807,27699,3120,117,111,43,139,69,1118,418,57105,22858,1886,8822,7496,2373,100624,3590,4524,3912,6123],"class_list":["post-610627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-accommodation","tag-according","tag-back","tag-capital","tag-control","tag-gains","tag-half","tag-inheritance","tag-introducing","tag-issues","tag-kiwis","tag-labours","tag-main","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-shows","tag-slipping","tag-stays","tag-support","tag-survey","tag-tax","tag-taxes","tag-twothirds","tag-visitor","tag-want","tag-wealth","tag-while"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610627","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=610627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}