Table of Contents
ACT leader David Seymour says the Green Party’s newly announced tax policy seeks to take the “dark underbelly of New Zealand’s otherwise happy culture” and make it “official government policy”.
The Green Party’s policy includes more than $32 billion of new revenue over four years, driven by a new “super-rich tax” and an inheritance and gifts tax, lifting the corporate tax rate for some and reversing coalition changes to interest deductibility.
The Greens are promising that the party’s proposed changes to income tax rates will result in everyone earning under $160,000 receiving a tax cut.
Speaking after the policy announcement, Seymour said even inheritance would no longer be “sacred”.
“The Green Party are not joking when they say they are going to tax you even after death with an inheritance tax,” he said.
“That flies in the face of what most New Zealanders work for through their lives – to leave something for their children to have a better life than they had had.”
The Greens policy includes a 33 per cent tax on inheritance or gifts valued above $1 million, although family farms and the family home would be exempt.
The person receiving the inheritance or gift would pay the tax and it’s estimated to hit approximately 1100 people a year. It would make $4.1b over four years.
At the same time, the party would change income tax by introducing a $10,000 tax-free threshold followed by adjustments to the rest of the tax brackets, with a new 45 per cent threshold for income over $160,000.
Seymour claimed the Greens’ policies created a “culture that opposes success” and told people that if they have done well, they are “fair game”.
“We actually need more success, more billion-dollar companies, more high-paying jobs, more experts and more people prepared to take a risk.
“The real greed is wanting to go to the ballot box and vote to be given other people’s money at their expense.”
NZ Herald
