By Mike Bain\/cvnznews.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
National is accusing Labour of signalling support for a raft of new taxes after Labour\u2019s Revenue spokesperson Deborah Russell described proposals from advocacy group Tax Justice Aotearoa as \u201creally good suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lobby group released a report calling for a series of major tax changes, including a 50% top income tax rate for earnings over $150,000, a broader capital gains tax, an inheritance tax, a wealth tax, windfall profit taxes, and higher trust tax rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
National MP Simeon Brown said Russell\u2019s comments showed Labour was \u201cpulling back the curtain\u201d on its appetite for further taxation. He argued Labour had already committed to a capital gains tax that would affect households, KiwiSaver balances, and businesses, and that Russell\u2019s remarks suggested the party was open to going even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The political tension comes after months of debate over Labour\u2019s proposed capital gains tax, which party leader Chris Hipkins has refused to rule out expanding. The Greens have also described Labour\u2019s plan as a \u201cstarting point,\u201d while continuing to promote their own package of wealth and environmental taxes, which they say would raise $88 billion over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
National says the mixed messages reflect a wider lack of clarity in Labour\u2019s economic policy direction. Brown said Labour\u2019s senior finance figures were \u201call over the place,\u201d pointing to Russell\u2019s comments, Hipkins\u2019 refusal to rule out further tax expansion, and the absence of Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds from the public debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tax Justice Aotearoa, the group behind the proposals, has long advocated for a more progressive tax system and has previously argued that New Zealand\u2019s current settings favour asset\u2011holders over wage\u2011earners. Their latest report revives long\u2011running debates about capital taxation, wealth inequality, and whether New Zealand should adopt taxes common in other OECD countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown said National was focused on \u201cfixing the basics\u201d and argued that returning Labour to government would risk the country\u2019s economic recovery. Labour has not yet confirmed whether any of the lobby group\u2019s proposals will be adopted as policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Mike Bain\/cvnznews.com National is accusing Labour of signalling support for a raft of new taxes after Labour\u2019s Revenue spokesperson Deborah Russell described proposals from advocacy group Tax Justice Aotearoa as \u201creally good suggestions.\u201d The lobby group released a report calling for a series of major tax changes, including a 50% top income tax rate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[305,923,113,1021],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-12036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-labour","9":"tag-national-party","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-tax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12038,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12036\/revisions\/12038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12036"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}