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Tax cuts or a tax reset? NZ parties explain their plans

NZ Herald's The Front Page asks how competing approaches to investment, property and wealth would reach household budgets.

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Which party’s economic plan would leave you better off? | The Front Page

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2:08Willis proposes investment tax incentives and faster resource consents as National's route to stronger growth.
8:18Edmonds defends Labour's targeted capital gains tax on investment properties and restoring the Reserve Bank's dual mandate.
13:14Seymour advocates shrinking the number of government departments as part of ACT's economic reforms.
15:15Xu-Nan sets out the Greens' wealth tax and higher corporate taxes as tools for redistributing wealth.
20:53Stobo proposes cutting the corporate tax rate for small and medium-sized businesses from 28% to 20%.
26:18Wong explains Opportunity's proposed land value tax and universal citizen's income.

Nicola Willis puts investment incentives at the centre of National's economic pitch. Barbara Edmonds starts with relief for everyday costs. In NZ Herald's final election-series episode of The Front Page, Chelsea Daniels asks parties to connect their economic ambitions with what people earn, spend and pay in tax.

The answers offer different routes, rather than a verdict on which voters would be better off. National's Willis argues that its investment tax policy and faster resource consents would support growth. On household costs, she points to proposals for local rates caps, more renewable energy and higher KiwiSaver contributions.

Labour's Edmonds identifies the cost of living as the leading concern, proposing public transport caps and free prescriptions. She also defends a targeted capital gains tax on investment properties and restoring the Reserve Bank's dual mandate.

Speaking from a moving car, ACT leader David Seymour argues that economic policy has favoured consumption over production. His prescription includes cutting regulation and substantially reducing the number of government departments. The Greens' Lawrence Xu-Nan instead makes wealth redistribution central to his proposed tax reset, including a wealth tax and higher corporate taxes, alongside funding for public housing.

New Zealand First's Craig Stobo proposes a lower corporate tax rate for small and medium-sized businesses. He also sets out a sovereign wealth fund proposal and says tackling electricity generators-retailers and the supermarket duopoly would help address living costs.

Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong argues for stronger Commerce Commission powers, research and development incentives, and a land value tax paired with a universal citizen's income. She links innovation and productivity growth to higher wages.

Daniels closes with an outline of Te Pāti Māori's platform rather than an interview: tax-free earnings at the bottom of the income scale, higher top brackets, corporate and land-banking taxes, and changes to minimum wages and benefits. That final section extends the episode's central choice beyond how much the economy grows to how its income and tax burden are distributed.