Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says the only tax policy Labour will campaign on is its capital gains tax

The only tax policy Labour will campaign on is its 28% capital gains tax on residential and commercial property, Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says.

On Sunday, the Green Party released its election year tax policy, saying it'll; "make sure the super-rich and big corporations contribute their share, reduce tax on salaried and waged workers, and fund the critical social services we all rely on.”

Some of the Greens’ proposed tax policies include an inheritance tax and returning the corporate tax rate to 33% from 28% for big corporations like energy companies, banks and supermarkets.

Alongside this, the Greens put forward a proposal to introduce a bank levy of 0.06% on the liabilities of banks who have more than $100 billion in liabilities [ANZ NZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac NZ] and enforce a 5% withholding tax rate on the profits that big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Uber, Visa and Mastercard send offshore.

When asked by interest.co.nz on Monday what Labour’s stance on the Green Party’s other proposals - like the bank levy and raising the withholding tax rate for big tech companies - was, Edmonds said: "Labour has committed to one tax policy: a simple targeted capital gains tax, which nine out of 10 New Zealanders will not pay.”

In October, Labour announced it would campaign on a 28% capital gains tax on residential and commercial property. 

Labour's capital gains tax proposal would exclude family homes, farms, KiwiSaver, business assets, inheritance, and other valuables.

“Every dollar raised will be ring-fenced for health, including a new Medicard providing three free doctor’s visits a year for everyone."

“The Greens can speak to their own tax policy, but Labour's been very clear that a simple, targeted capital gains tax is the only tax policy Labour will campaign on," Edmonds said.

Her comments echo that of Labour leader Chris Hipkins who, following the Greens’ announcement on Sunday, said Labour would not support a wealth or inheritance tax, according to RNZ.

"We're keeping it simple and we won't be supporting things after the election that we've made very clear before the election that we won't support."

'Hunger Games policy'

Speaking to reporters at National’s annual conference on Sunday, leader Christopher Luxon called the Green Party’s tax policy “crazy.”

He said it was not what New Zealand needed and it would put a “wrecking ball” through the country’s economy.

ACT leader David Seymour called the Greens’ tax policy a “Hunger Games policy.”

Seymour said New Zealand needed more wealth, more successful companies, more millionaires and more billionaires.

“For every billion-dollar company built on blood, sweat, tears and imagination, there are jobs, opportunity, and the inspiration that some Kiwi, somewhere, can build the next one.

“For every small business that takes a chance, employs another person, and serves more customers, there is risk. People who use the mortgage on the home where their children sleep to employ others don’t deserve to be whacked even harder by the taxman. If Government takes more when their risk taking succeeds, fewer people will take the risk. We will all be poorer, thanks to this Hunger Games policy."