"No new taxes" is well on its way to becoming a tried-and-tested Christopher Luxon catchphrase, but alongside that second-term commitment has been a constant refrain from the National leader that Labour and its "mates" want "nine new taxes" — how true is that?
Well, the claim bundles Labour's own capital gains proposal and two other Labour positions it disputes are taxes at all, with six policies from its possible but not guaranteed coalition partners. Labour leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out adopting most of those.
Wait, how could we get new taxes?
It's tricky to see a universe where all the so-called "taxes" do indeed happen in a government. This is where National's claim has been argued to be misleading by Hipkins.
For all nine initiatives to happen, Labour would need to form a government with the help of the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity, and then decide to concede on every major tax policy each of those parties is currently running on.
Hipkins has ruled out Labour adopting virtually any of them.
National's counter is that Hipkins' word is not the only one that matters and that when push comes to shove on forming a coalition, Labour might waver to gain power.
National's call-out was careful to attribute the nine to "Labour and its prospective coalition", with Nicola Willis saying Labour's "mates" were "planning a raft of new taxes".
"The reality is Labour has made around $18 billion worth of spending promises to New Zealanders, and it needs to pay for those promises somehow," said National's campaign chairperson Simeon Brown.
The smaller parties have generally refused to rule out their tax policies as non-negotiable before coalition talks. Here's a look at those "nine new taxes".
Party leader Christopher Luxon axed both ideas as a part of a ‘no new taxes’ election pledge. (Source: 1News)
What Labour wants
Labour has proposed a narrow capital gains tax as one of the measures it claims will help fund flagship policies, such as three free GP visits and more money for health.
The party said, if elected it would introduce a set 28% capital gains tax on commercial and residential property, excluding key assets such as the family home, farms, KiwiSaver, shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items.
Money generated would be partly used to fund three free doctor's visits, and any leftover funds would be ring-fenced for healthcare and the health system. The tax, if implemented, would take effect from July 1, 2027 and would not apply retrospectively.
National counts this as one of its "nine" new taxes.
Labour is adopting the same surplus timeline forecast in Budget 2026 but promising a different route to it. (Source: 1News)
It also counts two others which Labour has stated are not new "taxes" at all.
What Labour doesn't want - and National calls a new tax
The Government introduced its "Investment Boost" scheme in 2025, and it's effectively a tax incentive for all businesses. It allows a business to immediately deduct 20% of the cost of a new asset, on top of depreciation, reducing the tax bill in the year of purchase.
Labour has said it won't keep the Government's scheme and will instead replace it with a more modest set of tax changes for smaller businesses and some sole traders. National claims this is a "Business Tax" since it removes the rebate for all businesses.
Simeon Brown said it would "hike taxes by 20% on business owners wanting to buy the machinery and equipment," and amount to a "$5 billion" tax grab.
Package would cost $1.56 billion over four years, funding by a "refocusing" of the Government's investment boost policy. (Source: 1News)
Hipkins justified the scrapping by saying the Government's scheme had been a "flop".
"Giving a company chief executive a tax rebate when they go and buy a new BMW isn't going to grow the economy. Supporting small businesses will," he told media in August.
Meanwhile, National also claims Labour wants a "Digital Tax".
The party's claim originates from the former Labour government's Digital Services Tax Bill, introduced in 2023, which was only scuttled by the coalition last year.
When the bill was pulled from the agenda, Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds accused the Government of "effectively handing a $479 million tax break to global tech giants, like Facebook and Google".
That bill would've enabled a new tax on multinationals making over €750 million (about $1.5 billion) a year from global digital services, and more than $3.5 million from services provided to local users.
However, Labour has denied they want to reinstate the tax if elected.
What the Greens and Te Pāti Māori want
Five other "taxes" on National's list come from the Greens' and Te Pāti Māori tax policy.
The party wants to add a new higher tax rate on income made over $160,000. (Source: 1News)
What National dubs the "Asset Tax", "Inheritance Tax" and "Gift Tax" refer to the Greens' proposals for a 2.5% annual tax on net assets above $10 million, and a 33% tax on the value of covered gifts and inheritances above $1 million
The proposed "45% Top Rate" would apply to income over $160,000, alongside a new $10,000 tax-free threshold the Greens say would ultimately give 96% of Kiwis a tax cut.
Meanwhile, Te Pāti Māori is proposing a tax on net assets above $2 million, a 48% top income tax rate, and a 5% stamp duty on some residential sales.
All of these tax proposals have been firmly ruled out by Labour and Hipkins.
The government hopes the policy will drive down rent costs – but politicians don’t agree on the evidence. (Source: Breakfast)
The fifth, what National calls the "Rentals Tax", refers to the Greens' plan to stop landlords deducting mortgage interest from their rental income.
That would reverse a change made by the current Government, which restored deductibility after the previous Labour government attempted to phase it out.
Labour hasn't ruled out keeping the coalition's changes, but it hasn't committed to it either. It had however previously derisively called them "tax cuts for landlords".
What Opportunity wants
The last tax on National's list is Opportunity's proposed annual land value tax of 1.75% on urban land and 0.5% on rural land, which the party says would bring house prices down.
Called the "Land Tax" by National, Opportunity says it would help fund a $19,400-a-year "citizen's income"- otherwise known as universal basic income - paid to most adults.
National Party leader says: “When you want to spend more tax... borrow more, we ain't doing business with you”. (Source: 1News)
Hipkins and Labour's finance spokesperson Edmonds have rejected the policy.
"We won't support the tax policy put forward by Opportunity, we also won't support the wealth taxes, land taxes and other things put forward by the Greens either," Hipkins said.
Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong has said the package would be a tax cut for 70% of New Zealanders, with 20% "about neutral" and 10% "paying slightly more".
What does no new taxes even mean?
"No new taxes" has become a second-term mantra for Luxon, but some government policies still raise what New Zealanders pay — and the line between a "new tax" and a raised tax, or a new charge is doing some heavy lifting.
For example, legislation to enable congestion charging in Auckland has already been passed but it's up to the council to help progress a scheme into place.
Under one possible option, motorists might be charged up to $7 a trip to use central sections of Auckland's motorways at peak.
Neither the final routes nor prices have been decided.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown wants a peak hour payment of up to $5 on two choked stretches of city motorway (Source: Breakfast)
But that's not a new tax, according to Willis.
"That scheme .... critically, is only to be paid by those who are using roads at that particular time with all revenue used to further transport investment," she has said.
National has also proposed raising fuel taxes from 2028, deferring a planned increase next year, while Labour has pledged to freeze fuel taxes entirely for three years.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said freezing the tax was irresponsible, but that National's plan to raise it didn't break the "no new taxes" promise since fuel excise duty technically isn't a new tax. Excise duty was last raised six years ago.
How up front is everyone being?
So what does this all mean?
Of the "nine new taxes", one is a Labour policy the party would agree is a new tax — its capital gains tax.
Two more are Labour positions that Labour disputes the framing of, for different reasons.
Scrapping Investment Boost would raise what some businesses pay, while Labour asserts it had no plans to bring back its digital services tax legislation.
The remaining six belong to smaller parties. Labour has ruled out five of them, but hasn't committed to keeping the so-called "landlord tax cuts" National introduced.
A lot of this will be down to how much weight voters put on Labour's word against the leverage its possible partners might hold once the votes are counted.
Hipkins says party would not increase the tax next term, if elected, challenges National to follow suit. (Source: 1News)
Speaking on Tuesday, Hipkins argued National should face the same test it was setting for his party, pointing to policies held by support partner NZ First.
"The National Party and their mates want to cancel the right for permanent residents to vote. They want to cancel superannuation for permanent residents. They want to renationalise the BNZ," Hipkins said.
He said it was time finance spokesperson Willis "fronted up" and explained how those promises would be paid for under that standard.
"They should be held to their own standard," Hipkins said.
"I think it shows how ridiculous it is."
National has seized on recent comments by MPs, and confusion around Labour's support for a streamers levy, to continue pushing an argument Labour can't be trusted on tax.
"Between the four parties, there are at least nine new taxes for Labour to choose from to fund its spending addiction," Willis said.
“New Zealanders deserve straight answers from Labour about its tax plans, not continued attempts by Chris Hipkins and Barbara Edmonds to mislead them."
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