The Government’s rejection of a Capital Gains Tax upholds the status quo it promised to change in the lead up to the election and Government formation. Auckland Action Against Poverty condemns the Government’s decision to not fix our tax system which benefits a wealthy few.
“The Government’s refusal to implement bold tax reform to address the growing wealth gap is a disservice to our most vulnerable”, says Ricardo Menendez March, Auckland Action Against Poverty Coordinator.
“The Capital Gains Tax needed to be part of wider tax reform that included a tax on wealth, speculative transactions and changes to the income tax brackets. After promising to be a Government of transformation, the Prime Minister’s has shown that her Government’s approach to tax policy is not that much different from the previous National-led administration.
“Those who are on low-income, homeless, or most impacted by out-of-control speculation were not listened to throughout the Capital Gains Tax debate leading up to this decision. In 2017 Auckland Action Against Poverty held conversations with people on the benefit about their aspirations which resulted in four demands which included wide ranging tax reform. Instead of listening to those voices, the Government allowed wealthy landowners to control the narrative over what sort of tax system New Zealand should have. Wealthy landlords held the debate hostage by threatening to increase rents if their obscene profit margins from speculative gains were threatened.
“The decision will leave New Zealand as the only OECD country with no Capital Gains Tax, and continue to see housing as an investment to make a profit out of instead of a fundamental human right.
We wanted a system that was designed to make boomers work for the less well off low wage and beneficiaries and we blew it. Boomers are just not secure and comfortable enough in there investments and increasing pressures to raise the age of retirement. Perhaps if we had of argued for a lowering of the retirement age so that low wage and beneficiaries could be compensated.
So now that the property owning democracy is locked shut to an entire generation there is now an abundance of evidence that raising the minimum wage isn’t going to crash the economy so we are just going to have to broaden the tax bass that way and get some sort of rental war rent of fitness going to secure the rental democracy.
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