Finance Minister Grant Robertson has "reaffirmed" that Labour won't adopt the Greens' wealth tax, and says he's confident of an economic "rebound" after New Zealand fell into recession.
Robertson has already ruled out the Greens' proposals, saying he's only interested in Labour's policy of introducing a new top tax rate of 39 percent on income earned above $180,000 to generate $500 million a year.
He doubled down on Labour's position on Thursday, telling Magic Talk: "I can reaffirm that we won't be implementing the wealth tax. We have our own tax policy and we've been very clear that we won't be doing the wealth tax."
It comes after Green MP Julie Anne Genter told Newstalk ZB on Wednesday the Greens' wealth tax policy was a "bottom line" condition that must be met for her party to join into a second coalition Government with Labour.
The Greens want to make Kiwis with a net worth of more than $1 million pay 1 percent of their wealth to the Government as tax. Those worth more than $2 million would pay out 2 percent of their wealth as tax.
But Green Party co-leader James Shaw told Morning Report on Thursday that Genter misspoke under pressure, and confirmed that a wealth tax is not one of the party's bottom lines.
"It's a heat of the moment thing and that happens during these debates," Shaw said, adding that the extended election campaign was taking its toll. "People are getting tired and I think she was just pressed on the point."
Robertson referred to Shaw's response, "I would also note that James Shaw, the co-leader of the Greens, has come out this morning to say that Julie Anne was wrong.
"The Greens are obviously promoting their tax policy, that's totally within their power, but he hasn't used the phrase bottom line, and he reiterated that this morning. From our perspective, we have ruled out implementing a wealth tax."
ACT leader David Seymour said a "radical" Green-Labour Government would put New Zealand's economic recovery at risk.
"Grant Robertson has said Labour will introduce no new taxes, but that will provide little comfort for hardworking New Zealand taxpayers," he said on Thursday.
"New Zealanders will be concerned that, if a wealth tax is the price of a second term for Labour, it will capitulate and put our economic recovery at risk."
But Robertson is confident the economy will bounce back, despite Stats NZ confirming last week that the country was officially in a recession, thanks to the strict lockdown in March and April.
"That's the quarter that we saw in June," he said. "What we saw in July and the first part of August down in level 1 the economy going gangbusters actually and we were seeing the New Zealand activity index 2 percent up in July 2020 on what it had been in July 2019."
Robertson acknowledged the Government has been propping up the economy with stimulus like the wage subsidy, but he said the payments are "winding down" as consumer confidence begins to pick up again.
"I've seen some economists even talking of a rebound of around 12 or 13 percent in the next quarter, others saying less than that. But the resilience and robustness of the New Zealand economy is there."
The National Party has proposed income tax relief for 16 months to help stimulate the economy if elected next month, but Robertson said that's not the way to go.
"It's utterly unaffordable. It's like your household budget, it's all very well to go on a spending spree if you don't bother to pay the bills, but it catches up with you eventually."
Robertson revealed on Sunday that National had miscalculated how much it would save from halting NZ Super Fund contributions, which resulted in a $4 billion fiscal hole in its economic plan.
Newshub revealed National made the same mistake with its capital allowance, resulting in another $88 million shortfall, and Robertson says National has also double-counted $4 billion worth of funding in transport.
"It's actually more like $8 billion now," he said. "Now they say they're going to cut transport funding in order to make up the gap of the latest $4 billion."
National's finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says Labour is "shovelling money out the door" while National is suggesting a "more sensible way of investing" in the country's rebuild.
National would spend $6 billion less than Labour on general operating costs - things like education, health and social services. It would axe fees-free tertiary and KiwiBuild, and contributions to the Super Fund would be suspended.
