National has dumped two taxes it had been actively considering, with party leader Christopher Luxon ruling out both an accommodation levy and a bank tax as part of what he calls a new "no new taxes" election pledge.
National had previously committed only to "no new taxes on working people".
"There are no new taxes on the table," Luxon said today.
"Tax is a defining theme for this election, and the choice for Kiwis is clear. It's either a National government promising no new taxes, or a Labour and its prospective coalition proposing at least nine new taxes."
The accommodation levy would have put a charge on hotel and Airbnb stays, with revenue expected to help fund events and tourism infrastructure.
The so-called bed tax has been heavily promoted by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Luxon had previously committed to exploring the idea as Prime Minister.
Meanwhile Labour hit back at the pledge announced today, arguing National was asking voters to accept cuts without saying where they would fall.
Campaign chairperson Kieran McAnulty said the party had to spell out the trade-offs.
"National has told New Zealanders what it won't do. Now it needs to tell them what it will do," McAnulty said in a media release today.
"If you're ruling out revenue, you have to cut spending. So what are you going to cut? More nurses? More hospital services? More frontline workers? More support for families?"
It is not the first charge National has stepped back from in the past six months.
In June, Energy Minister Simeon Brown ruled out funding the Government's planned liquefied natural gas import facility in Taranaki with a levy on power bills — a proposal which Labour had squarely branded a "gas tax".
Bed tax infeasible without raising costs on NZers - Willis
Willis said today that National had determined "there is no way to do an accommodation levy without increasing costs on Kiwis booking a weekend away.
"We’ll look at how existing mechanisms could be used to support councils with the costs of tourism," she said in a media release.
The bank tax stance is a notable shift for Willis, who had previously raised the idea of more fairly taxing large financial institutions.
"As National Party finance spokesperson, if this Government isn’t able to make further decisions on that, then I do expect that we will take our policies to the campaign,” Willis said in May, as reported by the NZ Herald.
"This is an area where we need to be careful, we need to be prudent. We, across the Cabinet, agree on that. We don’t want unforeseen consequences.
"We’ve got to make sure the banks are taxed fairly."
Energy Minister said the Government is working "through the detail" of how the facility will be paid for. (Source: 1News)
The accommodation levy, or "bed tax", had been heavily pushed by Wayne Brown, who heralded its inclusion for consideration in his city deal with central government.
Today's announcement was not expected to affect other government proposals that may incur extra charges, such as future congestion charging or planned fuel tax hikes — which were "highly unlikely" to go ahead next January, Luxon said.
On congestion charging, finance spokesperson Willis said it had already been legislated and that it would only apply to people who were subject to it.
"Time of use charging has already been legislated for, in fact, almost unanimously by the whole Parliament," she told media.
"That scheme is something for councils, and critically, is only to be paid by those who are using roads at that particular time with all revenue used to further transport investment."
Willis promised National could continue to invest in the frontline public services without introducing new taxes.
"Labour spent up large in government, racked up $120 billion more debt and kept taxes higher with nothing to show for it. It is proposing the same mistakes again and Kiwis will be left paying the price for years to come," she said.
“National has brought the government books under control through disciplined spending and by creating the settings to support economic growth. That work means we don't need to reach for new taxes to pay for frontline public services."
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