Jacinda Ardern has refuted National leader Bill English's suggestions Labour is looking at an inheritance tax - and says any attempt to say so is "scaremongering".
Labour has been heavily quizzed on its tax policy - with Ms Ardern bearing the brunt over her insistence that she will wait on the findings of a working group before announcing detailed tax plans.
- Steven Joyce targets the hole in Labour's tax policy
- Winston Peters wants Labour to reveal tax plans
- Patrick Gower: Winston's tax attack shows he thinks Labour is winning
But she told The AM Show on Tuesday morning an inheritance tax was not an option for a Labour-led Government.
"I have heard the Prime Minister scaremongering around inheritance tax," she said.
"Inheritance tax is not what we're trying to do here. That's not what we're looking at - that's off."
Ms Ardern says she only has two parameters for her working tax group - that the family home is not allowed to be taxed, and that inheritance tax is off the table - so is frustrated by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters' claim that Labour has already settled on a capital gains tax.
Peters said on Monday that he wouldn't support any government that wasn't upfront about its plans, and told Labour it couldn't just let its tax policy be determined by a committee.
Ms Ardern wasn't happy with Mr Peters' comments.
"He's implied that we've got this predetermined view - I wouldn't be having a review if I already had a plan on this front," she said.
"This is absolutely again about making sure I do all I can in Government to address the housing crisis and make sure our tax system is fair."
Ms Ardern says her working group is looking at options that will make a difference to speculators entering the housing market and overheating it.
"The fact that someone who works a 40-hour week pays tax and someone who flicks four investment properties and doesn't in the same way - that's a question of fairness," she said.
Newshub.
