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Te Pāti Māori proposes suite of changes in new tax policies
Te Pāti Maōri has announced its tax policies for the 2023 election, including new taxes on wealth, foreign companies, undeveloped land and vacant houses.
Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer say their policies would redistribute wealth, changing a system that takes from the poor to give to the rich.
The policy includes adjusting income taxes, with a tax-free bracket for earnings under $30,000, and a new 48 percent tax on income over $300,000.
A Flourish data visualizationThe party said this would mean a person earning $60,000 would keep an extra $6520 a year, and a person on $90,000 would keep an extra $6220 a year. They suggested take-home pay would increase for 98 percent of people.
They also promised a series of new taxes:
- Wealth tax: A 2% tax on net wealth over $2 million, rising to 4% on net wealth over $5m, and 8% on wealth over $10m
- Higher company tax: Reversing National’s 2008 cut to the company tax rate, bringing it from 28% to 33%
- Foreign companies tax: Introducing an additional 2% tax on overseas-based companies’ financial transfers
- Land banking tax: Introducing a 33% tax on land value increases, for land that remains undeveloped four years after purchase (with an exemption for Māori freehold land)
- Vacant house tax: A new 33% tax on the market value of properties that remain untenanted for six months or more
- Tax evasion crackdown: Investing $500m into the Serious Fraud Office and Inland Revenue to investigate the $7b lost to tax evasion every year
It came alongside the revival of the party’s policy to remove all GST from all food.
The party estimated the changes overall would mean an increase of $16.4b to the government’s coffers, although that assumed the wealth tax bringing in $23b and the $500m tax evasion package recouping the full $7b a year.
The estimates were based on analysis by party economic advisers using models from the Parliamentary Library and data from IRD, Stats NZ, the Tax Working Group, and Treasury Budget advice.
The party’s policy document highlighted what it called a broken tax system that had led to the biggest wealth transfer in generations, “from hard working whānau to greedy property developers and landlords”.
Read the full policy (PDF: 220KB)
Ngarewa-Packer blamed government inaction on housing, and the Covid-19 response.
“Now is the time for radical change. Our tamariki are literally hungry for it.”
Waititi said the tax system was doing what it had been designed to: “Take money from the poor and give it to the rich”.
“The richest 10 percent now own half the wealth in this country while the poorest half owns a mere 2 percent. On top of that, average people in Aotearoa are paying 20.2 percent in tax while the wealthy are only paying 9.4 percent.
“It’s time we rectified this imbalance.”
“We believe in an Aotearoa Hou where ordinary people don’t have to subsidise the extravagant lifestyles of the rich. No one should go hungry while supermarkets are making record profits. No one should be homeless when there are enough vacant houses to house everybody. Whānau should not have to choose between paying their bills on time or taking their babies to the doctor.”
The Green Party has also proposed a tax-free threshold on earnings under $10,000, increasing the rate for earnings over $180,000 to to 45 percent, and a 2.5 percent wealth tax on net assets over $2m.
But Labour – a much closer fit for both the Greens and Te Pāti Māori than the other major party, National – has ruled out capital gains or wealth taxes under Chris Hipkins’ leadership.
VIA RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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