Labour promise to cuddle landlords as Wellington Incremental Mandarins win the day for another mediocre campaign designed to make Chippy lose
Labour rules out interest deductibility changes for landlords
Labour will make no changes to interest deductibility rules for residential landlords if elected, as party leader Chris Hipkins confirms he wouldn’t revisit the settings.
TVNZ
After spending the last 3 years attacking National for allowing the Landlord tax loop hole, the Wellington Incremental Mandarins have won an amazing victory in getting Labour to back down and cuddle the Landlords instead.
The Wellington Incremental Mandarins exist to do one thing and one thing only, kill the Left.
The Truism about NZ Politics is that National exists to stop Labour gaining power and Labour exists to stop the Left taking power.
I’m currently reading Comrade Bill Anderson, A Communist, Working Class life – the biography of NZs great union leader, and what is fascinating to me is how similar all the problems in the 1950s, 60s and 70s are with what we are experiencing now.
The cost of living was too high
The cost of housing was too high
The workers were horribly underpaid
And The Labour Party was insipid and spineless.
Bill spends most of his time fighting the incremental Labour Party to do anything meaningful.
The Wellington Incremental Mandarins seem set to advice Chippy poorly.
His unbelievable acquiescence to the fake poll from a fake union feels like advice so bad it is designed to make him lose.
There has always been a part of Labour who prefer to control the losing team than ever lose control of the winning team.
It’s ironic that those advising Chippy will prosper if he loses the next election and won’t advance if he does. They literally have an incentive in seeing him lose.
While we are on it, who approve the terrible colour of Labour”s Billboards?
It should be blood red, but it’s a watered down pink!
Are Labour trying to throw this election?
If Labour won’t tax the rich, what is the point of Labour?
All this does is ensure Greens have a higher vote on election night.
There is going to be one hell of a reckoning between the Election and the final count when Labour face the combined negotiating front of TPM/Greens/TOP.
Independent Media is more important than ever, especially in the lead up to the Election. TDB is the largest Left Wing Blog in NZ and we have been operating for 13 years. We get zero funding from NZonAir and we don’t have no rich backers. If you can donate please do so here or directly into our account –12-3065-0133561-56
The NZLP is the Landlord’s party.
Who does this policy appeal to? People on $309,000 plus slush who just got us to buy them another house. Who gets fucked by it? Everybody who wants public services. The problem for Labour is that there aren’t a lot of people in the first category, and a fuck of a lot more in the second. Once upon a time the party knew that. Once upon a time it didn’t need to even do the calculation, because it knew what it stood for. But it doesn’t now, and as a result its pandering to the rich while trying to call itself a “labour” party. Maybe it should rebrand itself as “Landlord” instead.
Where is Craig Renney ?
” When National introduced its landlord tax-break, Labour’s Barbara Edmonds called it a waste of money which would blow the government’s books. Then-CTU economist and now Labour candidate Craig Renney was even harsher, pointing out how it would subsidise a handful of mega-landlords by over a million dollars each, funnelling public money into the pockets of the few. But now both of them are going to have to eat those words and pretend they never said them, as Chris Hipkins has decided that actually he wants to subsidise landlords after all ”
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-landlord-party.html
Fifty-one business leaders have signed an open letter calling on political parties to ditch election promises that interfere with their interests.
The letter, organised by the right-leaning New Zealand Initiative economic think tank, is openly critical of policies promoted by National, Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First.
Those policies are campaign proposals that would force supermarket owners to sell to the government, break up a New Zealand-owned grocery group, take a bank into state ownership, separate generation from retail in the electricity sector, rewrite retirement village contracts that are already signed and cancel mining approvals granted lawfully.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/361085053/business-leaders-unite-against-election-policies-threaten-property-rights?utm_source=push&utm_medium=notification&utm_campaign=Politics%20Update_20260923
Who are these wealthy and powerful business leaders think that they have the God given right to make demands of our democratically chosen leaders?
They already have their highly paid lobbyists inside the Beehive to push the policies that benefit them and screw everyone else.
Pollution, environmental destruction, climate change, war, poverty amid plenty, can all be linked to unbridled corporate power.
These arrogant oligarchs need to be put in their place.
Better Starts Now…… Now? …..now? How about now?
We really need an exit poll, sot that we all know the will of the people before before the politicians enter into coalition negotiations.
Who did you vote for?
If you voted ror a third party
Did you want your vote to go to support a Labour led government?
Did you want your vote to got support a National led government?
(Possibly done the day after the election to avoid accusations of ‘push polling’)
Isn’t the election the big, comprehensive poll that shows the will of the people?
It’s nice to see Labour still hopelessly vacillating between doing something small and meaningless, and doing nothing at all. I keep getting e-mails from them asking me to donate, and I’m like, “Donate to what? Your continued inability to do anything meaningful to facilitate change?” I like Chris Hipkins. He’s a nice bloke. But the Labour Party right now… fuck me, what a dismal collection of noodle-spined do-nothings. They’re about as inspiring as a bowl of tepid gruel.
It’s the Greens for me this year.
On the other hand if Labour dumps interest deductability National may gain votes as they predict the consequential rent rises.
So far this election it seems to be National dictating the terms and the Labour team need to up their game if they want to have any chance of winning.
” “There’s a lot of problems in the rental market and giving landlords tax relief is not going to address those problems ”
Renters United president Luke Somervell.
The Property Investors Federation – which was thrilled with Labour’s promise – told Stuff in June that allowing landlords to deduct interest on only half their mortgage costs would likely be the right move.
The deduction had been hailed by property investors and the government as a way to lower rent, saying it created less pressure on landlords’ finances.
But Somervell argued that a tax relief for landlords did not mean better rent prices, as owners had no obligation to pass on the profit.
“I don’t doubt that landlords are certainly going to feel relief, but are they going to pass that on to renters, their tenants? I highly doubt it, because there’s no incentive for them to do so.”
He said the policy improved landlords’ profits, but did not meaningfully address “a problem of sky-high rents in this country”.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1519690/labour-doing-a-u-turn-with-landlord-tax-break-promise-advocate-says
It would seem that Labour’s only hope is Nicky Hagars new book
” It would seem that Labour’s only hope is Nicky Hagars new book ”
Nope because the Drogo section of the population of which there are many and you would sympathize with ignore or simply don’t have the smarts to understand and take in what Nicky has researched and his conclusions.
As for Labour all hope has been extinguished a long time ago and they will be put out of their misery post November 7th.
” While we are on it, who approve the terrible colour of Labour”s Billboards? ”
It should be blood red, but it’s a watered down pink!
ACT chose Pink the singer and what she supports and the color for its atrocious logo.
Labour’s pink is the red blood of its betrayal of what it once stood proudly for but is just another elitist , entitled bullshitting entity that has sold out.
Add yellow and you will have the color of cowards.
Maybe interest deductibility should be dropped for all businesses. I am not sure why landlords have been singled out.
Won’t appeal to the hard leftists but very smart move by Chippy. My neighbour has a few rentals and voted National because of the interest deductibility last election. He now can continue but will pay a CGT when he sells. He also said he is thinking he will vote Labour because house values and prices are bound to increase along with a more stimulatory market that is usual when a Labour led govt is in power.
From my perspective whatever it takes to get rid of this current mongrel coalition is paramount.
If Chris Hipkins doesn’t believe in reversing the landlord tax cut after three years of campaigning on it, how can New Zealanders believe he actually does intend to do any of his promises as Prime Minister?
I don’t think Labour want to win this election and after giving in to the landlords they don’t deserve to
Definitely two ticks Green after this disappointing announcement.
Hipkins FGS please stop doing this. Couldn’t you hint that you ‘may have to’ let this ghastly CoC policy continue rather than diving straight in? On Monday Hipkins said he wouldn’t change the policy because he was committed to a capital gains tax instead, when the landlords sell their properties – surely, IF they sell their properties?! He also said, if he was to make changes to interest deductibility, it would ultimately potentially change the CGT settings! He went on to say he also didn’t want to risk landlords hiking rents, because people were already struggling to pay them. So is this a’moral’ stand from Hipkins, a cop-out, or a hope that some landlords will vote for him now? Easy fix, put a stop on rental increases for at least a year, or reduce what the landlords get! The Left should not be kowtowing to this greedy bunch – they have done very well thank you! The people hurting most in NZ are those on wages, which have barely moved, making the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ larger by the day. I may be voting Greens!
Labour lost my vote years ago when they accepted neoliberal economics. This certainly wouldn’t get it back though.
Why would I vote Labour anymore?
” Why would I vote Labour anymore ”
Many have been asking the same question.
I am voting for the common good.
Tax justice. Public ownership.
Free healthcare and education.
Secure housing. Full employment.
https://allianceparty.nz/
With 15 million free doctors visits to fit in you will be lucky to get to see your doctor in a time fashion. I am more than happy for those in need to see the doctor for free but why should those that are not poor get this opportunity
” Despite Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds describing the policy as ‘solely benefiting the wealthiest New Zealanders’, Labour says it will continue to give landlords a $3 billion tax break if elected in November ”
She framed it as a moral failure, a sign of a government whose priorities were ‘mega-rich landlords’ rather than school lunches, smokefree legislation, or the Cook Strait ferries. She described the policy as ‘solely benefiting the wealthiest New Zealanders.’ Yet Labour now intends to keep it. The party has moved from denunciation to acceptance.
This is the tragedy of Labour’s political imagination. If Chris Hipkins and his colleagues will not take on the power of capital, they will inevitably concede to it. And capital’s demands—like a $3 billion tax break for landlords—are fundamentally incompatible with the needs of ordinary people. Labour cannot even stomach the smallest step in the opposite direction. Removing a tax break for wealthy landlords is not radical. It is not revolutionary. It is barely reformist. Yet even that is too much for Labour.
In terms of tax revenue if the landlord tax break was canned (plus $3billion) Gst could be removed from food (minus $4billion). Thats almost tax nuetral but highly efficient to increase food supply to vulnerable families.
GST on food is the most regressive bit of tax collecting all these neoliberal govts of the last 40 years have subjected the people to.
NO GST ON FOOD !
NO GST ON KAI !
Absolutely agree. The are not even getting my electorate vote this election, they don’t deserve it. This was the final straw for me, they are such a gutless party I’m embarrassed that I ever in my misguided youth knocked on doors for them, I long since gave up party voting for them when they wasted a majority, but now I don’t even see them as allies who can help facilitate change, they are opponents that need to be beaten.
The same month as our election the us will be having their election where populist Lefty’s are likely to win in places like f**king Texas as the global population is furious with the authoritarian right and it’s culture wars and corruption and refuse to vote for neoliberals
if Talerico who is running on “Medicare for y’all” wins Texas it shows the reason the left couldn’t win in the south was neoliberalism not that the south were all hateful racists, which is obvious cos the democrats won the south til the 90s when Clinton signed the welfare bill
Meanwhile labour doesn’t even have the guts to remove a policy chippy himself spent three years bashing everytime he was on tv, like my god, I hope Craig Rennie wins in Welly because he’s actually a lefty and impresses me but here in chch a city of nearly 600 k people they are replacing an amazing local mp like Duncan Webb with a guy from Auckland who ran for North shore last election, get wrecked im voting for the green candidate.
And as for the pink and red? It clashes! It’s so hideous! And the slogan for labour should be “Better isn’t possible”
I’m genuinely so sick of gutless, moderate gingers groveling to the rich this week! (I love gingers but Chris and Ed suck!)
” Absolutely agree. The are not even getting my electorate vote this election, they don’t deserve it. This was the final straw for me, they are such a gutless party I’m embarrassed that I ever in my misguided youth knocked on doors for them, I long since gave up party voting for them when they wasted a majority, but now I don’t even see them as allies who can help facilitate change, they are opponents that need to be beaten ”
Damn right !!
Pathetic. Chippy really is limp unfortunately. Once again choosing the safest, most ineffectual path.
Leverage is the name of the game, and having this tax benefit is what advantages landlords over first home buyers, as effectively they are getting cheaper finance.
There was almost universal agreement, except for landlords and National MP’s (who mostly are landlords), that Labours interest deductibility only being allowed on new builds, not on existing housing was a smart policy.
1. It directed investing where it was needed, new housing.
2. It evened the playing field between landlords and first home buyers competing for existing housing.
The threat of higher rents is BS. It is totally demand driven.
Rents are already grossly unaffordable. Taxpayers $’s
are actually being used to keep them artificially high by subsidising landlords to the tune of $2 Billion plus a year on accommodation supplements.
The reason rents have flatlined recently is because so many NZ’s left the country this term as it is unaffordable. If Chippy kept immigration in check he would not have a rent issue.
The CGT is going to be a waste of time. Landlords know that as soon as the COC get back in they will reverse it, just like they reversed the 10 year bright line down to 2 years.
So they will just wait to sell when it gets reversed.
Really dumb and cowardly move Chippy. Who did he not want to offend? Landlords? National MP’s? Is he that desperate to be a totally ineffectual PM?
Well, this might be cynical but he does own more than one property and it seems to be mortgaged.