𝕃𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕡𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕣 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕒𝕩

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕪 𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕒𝕩, 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕒𝕩 𝕠𝕣 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕒𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕘𝕟 𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.

T

he policy has been a poisoned chalice for the party in the past but Chris Hipkins thinks he’s got the goods to sell it to voters.

In a candid interview with the Tova podcast, Hipkins also hints at which of Labour’s policies from the last election will survive, which will die and finally, categorically reveals whether he’ll work with Winston Peters next time round.

Tax is a topic Labour’s been most keen to avoid in the recent past but not anymore.

“I think we do actually need to have a fairly significant conversation as a country around tax,” Hipkins told the Tova podcast.

After killing his former Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s wealth tax before the last election, a resurrection is coming.

Asked if Labour will campaign on broadening the tax system, Hipkins is clear: “I think I can say yes to that question. Exactly what that looks like, we've still got a lot of water to flow under the bridge there.”

It’s a policy that’s dogged Labour for over a decade.

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Former Leaders Phil Goff and David Cunliffe both fluffed the selling of the policy during the 2011 and 2014 election campaigns, both leaders lost their contested elections.

It’s partly why Jacinda Ardern took the nuclear option, shocking the country in 2019 not just by ruling it out at the 2020 election - but ever:

"Under my leadership, we will no longer campaign for, or implement a capital gains tax – not because I don't believe in it, but because I don't believe New Zealand does."

Seems to be growing support for this!!https://t.co/Uiabz5oiOv

— Suzanne Pierce (@PierceSuzanne) September 6, 2024

Hipkins thinks that’s changed.

“I think the debate needs to start from, what are we funding, and then we talk about how we fund it.”

This will be Labour’s economic catch cry for the coming year: The need to invest more in health, infrastructure and education. It believes if voters buy that, they’ll get buy-in for the tax.

But Hipkins won’t say yet what that tax looks like.

“Ultimately, if you look at a wealth tax and a capital gains tax, they're actually similar, they’re points on a continuum.”

A capital gains tax taxes actual gains a person has made from the sale of a property, a wealth tax captures unrealised gains on assets you haven’t yet sold.

“Valuing realised gains is much easier because somebody has sold something, you've got a clear basis to tax them,” Hipkins said. “When you start to tax unrealised gains… it's a harder thing.”

Extra cash in the government coffers, could mean more inflation-adjusted tax cuts under Labour - like National’s just done.

“Regular bracket adjustment is a sensible idea as long as you've got alternative revenue sources to make sure that government can fund what it needs to.”

Things like paying for our ageing population, because Hipkins appears to have no interest in raising the age of superannuation.

“We've been pretty clear over a long period of time that we're going to keep the retirement age at 65.”

But Labour is eyeing compulsory Kiwisaver as it develops its policy - “I think that could be an element” - and higher contributions -“ we’ve put all of those things on the table right at the moment”.

As for the policies that didn’t win them the last election, some will be killed, like GST off fresh fruit and vegetables: “yeah, look, I don't think that's going to be part of our mix for the next campaign”.

Others, like free dental for under 30s could be back - and bigger than ever. “We certainly want to have universal basic dental care as part of our public health system.”

Likewise, some version of the Māori Health Authority could be reinstated.

“Even if we redo things that we did last time, they won't look exactly the same as they did last time, but I'm certainly fully in favour of the Māori healthcare approach that we were pushing last time.”

Some of the policies repealed by the current Government would also be back under Labour.

"Hipkins reiterated a promise to reinstate smokefree legislation and Fair Pay Agreements: “Those are things that absolutely are front and centre of Labour's core mission as a party.”

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Even some of National’s policies could be kept, including most infrastructure projects, tackling truancy and health.

“If they’re working we will maintain them,” Hipkins said of National’s health targets.

Others could be tweaked, like National’s ban on cellphones in schools, Hipkins making the point that secondary students need to learn to live with digital devices.

Asked if he would lift the ban in high schools, he replied: “I wouldn’t necessarily say that we would do that on a blanket basis, but we might give schools a bit more autonomy to determine where kids might be able to have their devices.”

Hipkins predicted longevity for some of National’s policies but not its leadership, “I'll make a bold prediction for you, Tova, I'll still be leader of the Labour Party long after Nicola Willis has shoved the knife between Christopher Luxon's shoulder blades.”

And on the age-old question of working with Winston, Hipkins issued his clearest ruling yet come campaign 2026.

“I think it's pretty unlikely that our position of working with Winston Peters is going to be different in the next campaign to what it was in the last campaign, when we said we don't want a bar of that.”

Challenged that “pretty unlikely” is different from “we don’t want a bar of that”, Hipkins replied: “We don’t want a bar of that.”

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