A wealth tax spat could block Labour's path to power in the upcoming election as leader Chris Hipkins refuses to budge on his stance against it - despite Te Pāti Māori revealing it as a bottom line.
Recent polling has found if Labour has any chance of getting into Government, it will need to form a coalition with the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori - both of which have been campaigning on a wealth tax.
On Thursday, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer revealed a wealth tax would be her party's bottom line during Newshub Nation's minor party debate. This is granted the party gets 5 percent of the vote or an electorate seat.
"We will have some big negotiating aspects which is about our wealth tax because we know that if we can end poverty then we can address some of the complex social issues that everyone's talking about," Ngarewa-Packer said.
A wealth tax is a taxation on an individual's net wealth or the market value of the total assets they own - simply meaning Kiwis would pay tax on the value of what they own.
Both the Greens and Te Pāti Māori want the tax to start at a net wealth of over $2 million - so, for the average Kiwi, they would not have to pay this tax.
Te Pāti Māori wants a tax rate of 2 percent for net wealth over $2 million, 4 percent for net wealth over $5 million and 8 percent for net wealth over $10 million. These rates will be less mortgages and other debts owing and will be for individuals and the combined net wealth of couples.
Meanwhile, the Green Party has campaigned on introducing a 2.5 percent wealth tax on net wealth over $2 million for individuals or over $4 million on assets owned by couples.
However, Labour already ruled out a wealth tax back in July - with Hipkins saying it is not time for a big shake-up of New Zealand's tax system.
The National Party and ACT have also ruled out implementing a wealth tax.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Hipkins stuck to his guns.
"We are not implementing a wealth tax, it's as simple as that," he told reporters.
"Ultimately, if the Māori Party, if any party, wants to force another election then they could do that but we're not going to be voting for something that we said that we won't be."
Despite this, Hipkins doesn't think any parties would force another election, he said.
