National has promised to cut compliance costs for small businesses with a 47-point plan that includes a review of the GST registration threshold and a “Tell Government Once” service.<\/p>\n
The party unveiled its Small Business Plan today, saying the measures would make it easier for firms to invest, grow and take on staff.<\/p>\n
The Tell Government Once service would be built around the New Zealand Business Number and draw on existing government systems, including Inland Revenue, ACC, the Companies Office and licensing bodies.<\/p>\n
National also wants a fast track for straightforward disputes at the Employment Relations Authority. It plans to rewrite priority health and safety codes in “plain English”, with practical examples for small businesses.<\/p>\n
The party would review the compulsory GST registration threshold, currently set at $60,000.<\/p>\n
Other promises include intensive support for the next 200 high-potential exporters and a standard recurring seasonal agreement with a shorter renewal process, aimed at making seasonal hiring easier.<\/p>\n
National, Labour and the Greens out in retail precincts to sway the undecided, talking big on business and banks.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
National has also pledged to keep the investment boost, a tax incentive introduced in Budget 2025 that Labour has proposed scrapping.<\/p>\n
National’s small business spokesperson Cameron Brewer said the party would back small businesses to succeed.<\/p>\n
“We want the sole trader to feel confident taking on an apprentice, the caf\u00e9 owner to open a second premises, and the local manufacturer to win their first overseas order,” he said.<\/p>\n
“When small businesses can invest, employ and grow, the benefits flow to their communities, with more jobs and more opportunities to get ahead.”<\/p>\n
Fiscal plan due Monday<\/p>\n
National leader Christopher Luxon told reporters the party would release its fiscal plan on Monday, and that it would closely follow the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU).<\/p>\n
He said National had to account for new spending and savings, including the $605 million for Pharmac medicines the party announced yesterday.<\/p>\n
“As a result, we had a few more spending and also some savings initiatives that we’ve got to get reflected in that fiscal plan,” Luxon said.<\/p>\n
“But it won’t surprise you – very aligned with PREFU and certainly aligned with our fiscal rules, which I’m really proud about.”<\/p>\n
National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said the plan would show a “credible return to surplus with no new taxes”.<\/p>\n
Before outlining the policy, Brewer turned to Luxon and praised his record of visiting small businesses, claiming no sitting PM had been to as many.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National has promised to cut compliance costs for small businesses with a 47-point plan that includes a review…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11508,42,11507,43,135,40,38,41,39,270122],"class_list":["post-623057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-christopher-luxon","tag-headlines","tag-national-party","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623057","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=623057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}