Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Yesterday Te Pāti Māori released their tax policy ahead of the election. The policy wasn’t a huge surprise. At their election campaign launch a few weeks ago they made it clear their tax reform policy would have a focus on redistributing wealth. So the proposal for a new wealth tax, an increase in income tax for those earning over $200,000, and a tax free threshold for income up to $30,000 are all expected. During Matariki, Co leader Rawiri Waititi said, “100,000 people are homeless in New Zealand, 60,000 of those are Maori”, so it’s no shock they’re also pushing for new taxes for land banking and vacant houses as well as a capital gains tax. They’ve clearly decided to go all out. So also plan to raise the corporate tax rate from 28% to 33%, as well as new taxes for foreign companies. They call the policy radical and transformative and representative of their values - but there’s plenty of debate as to whether these policies will encourage or hinder productivity. It’s easy to take a radical approach when you’