National claims Labour will propose removing GST from fresh fruit and veges

July 27, 2023
National deputy leader and finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis.

National Party finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis claims Labour is set to announce a tax policy to remove GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.

Willis said she understood Finance Minister Grant Robertson had raised "serious concerns" about the policy.

"He has said that such an approach would be a boondoggle, that it would benefit supermarkets most and that it was not the right way to target low income people.

"Despite these serious concerns having been raised, Chris Hipkins is no longer taking his finance minister seriously and intends to announce this policy."

She said former Revenue Minister David Parker had also expressed concerns about the approach and quit over the matter.

The Opposition claims it's part of the Government's tax policy leading up to the election. (Source: 1News)

"Labour are completely divided on tax matter. This is a lurching chaotic government that is going from one band-aid to another."

She said New Zealand needed was a coherent plan to address the underlying drivers of inflation, reduce the cost of living and lift incomes.

Asked where she had gleaned the information from, Willis said: "You may have noticed there's quite a lot of leaks out of the Government lately".

"If it's not [Labour's] policy, it's up to them to say that."

She said National's policy was to reduce personal income tax.

Speaking in Christchurch today, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he understood Willis had been "purporting to announce Labour’s tax policy".

"She’s just going to have to wait and see what it is the same as everybody else is.

"I’m not going to announce National’s tax policy, they’ve had multiple tax policies in the time that we’ve been in Government. They can announce their tax policy, we’ll announce ours in due course."

Asked about whether Labour was going to make the policy announcement, deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni said Labour had not announced its tax policy yet.

Asked if Labour would rule it out, she said: "What we've ruled out is a capital gains tax and a wealth tax but we're certainly not going to... do the rule-in, rule-out thing".

She said Nicola Willis should focus on National's tax policy.

Asked when the tax policy would be announced, Sepuloni said "soon".

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni.

Asked if he quit the revenue portfolio over the policy, Parker said "no" and kept walking. He wouldn't answer further questions.

Revenue Minister Barbara Edmonds also refused to comment on whether Labour intended to announce the policy, saying Labour had not yet announced its tax policy.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said the Greens did not support taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.

"It is complicated because you get into all sorts of definitional issues to do with what's fresh, where it's served and so on and so forth.

"It's way better to focus on people's incomes and making sure that they can actually afford fresh fruit and vegetables."

Shaw said he understood the policy sounded good and he could understand the political "temptation".

Willis' claims came the same day Te Pāti Māori outlined its policy for the election, which repeated previous pledges to remove GST from all kai.

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