Housing · In depth

A tax system for all of us

In depth — from Green’s policy document

The Green Party proposes six revenue measures and an income tax cut. A 2.5 percent annual tax on net assets over $10 million and a 33 percent tax on inheritances and gifts received over $1 million; a higher company rate for large firms, a levy on the big banks, and enforcement of withholding tax on profits sent offshore; and reversal of the landlord interest deduction and the brightline change. Income tax is cut, with the first $10,000 tax-free and a new 45 percent rate over $160,000.

Tax on net assets

2.5% a year over $10m

$20m for a couple, after debts; family home exempt

Inheritances and gifts

33% over $1m

Paid by the recipient; family home and farm exempt

Large company rate

33%

Turnover over $30m; small and medium firms stay at 28%

Tax-free threshold

First $10,000

The party says 96% of people get a tax cut

New top rate

45% over $160,000

On the portion above the threshold

Net revenue

$5.1bn in 2027/28

After the income tax cut; party’s own modelling

What would be taxed more

Net assets above $10 million, or $20 million for a couple, at 2.5 percent a year
Inheritances and gifts received above $1 million, at 33 percent
Companies with turnover above $30 million, at 33 percent instead of 28
Banks with more than $100 billion in liabilities, at 0.06 percent of total liabilities
Profits sent offshore by large multinationals, through the 5 percent withholding rate
Income above $160,000, at 45 percent

What is exempt or unchanged

The family home, from the tax on net assets
Family homes and family farms, from the inheritance and gift tax
Māori land under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act, and the assets of Post-Settlement Governance Entities
The assets of charities, NGOs and clubs
Small and medium businesses, which stay on the 28 percent company rate

How it would work

The tax on net assets

A 2.5 percent annual charge on net assets above $10 million for an individual, or $20 million for a couple, measured after mortgages and other debt. It is a tax on wealth held, not on income from wages or work.

Covers property, shares and bonds, which the document says have known values because they trade often
Artworks and similar worth more than $50,000 are valued at what they are insured for
Wealth in a discretionary trust is assessed against the settlor; a fixed-interest trust is apportioned to beneficiaries

The Capital Acquisitions Tax

A 33 percent tax on inheritances and gifts worth more than $1 million, paid by the person receiving them rather than the estate. The document says it would apply to about 1,100 people a year, and that the 33 percent rate matches the base rate on income earned by a trust or by the estate of someone who has died.

A higher company rate for large firms only

The company rate rises from 28 to 33 percent for businesses with annual turnover above $30 million — the threshold Inland Revenue uses to define a large business, which the document says is about 0.7 percent of firms. Everyone below it stays at 28 percent.

A levy on the big banks

An annual levy of 0.06 percent on the total liabilities of banks holding more than $100 billion — which the document says captures ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac, and matches a levy Australia already has. The stated purposes are the fiscal risk of highly leveraged banks, bank profitability, and levelling the field for smaller competitors.

Enforcing withholding tax on offshore profits

The document argues large multinationals reduce their New Zealand taxable profit by classifying what are in substance royalties as service and licence fees. The policy is to enforce the existing 5 percent withholding rate on them, and it says this would apply to any company misclassifying royalties this way, not only the named examples.

Reversing the two property tax changes

Interest deductibility on residential investment property would be removed, and the brightline test returned to 10 years from the current 2. The document notes this taxes the gain at the seller’s marginal rate and does not apply to the family home.

The proposed income tax scale

Seven brackets replacing the current five, with the first $10,000 untaxed and a new top rate on income over $160,000. Only the portion above each threshold is taxed at that rate.

$0–$9,999 at 0% · $10,000–$19,999 at 10% · $20,000–$39,999 at 17.5%
$40,000–$59,999 at 25.5% · $60,000–$79,999 at 30.5% · $80,000–$159,999 at 33.5%
$160,000 and over at 45%

Worked examples

These scenarios and figures are Green’s own, from the document.

Two inheritances, one taxed and one not

The situation

In the first, someone is gifted a family home worth $1.5 million and $250,000 in shares
In the second, someone is gifted a family home worth $1.5 million and $1.25 million in shares and bonds

What happens

The first pays nothing — the family home is exempt, and what is left is under the $1 million threshold
The second pays 33 percent on $250,000, being the value above $1 million once the family home is excluded

What they expect it to raise

2027/28

$5,147m

2028/29

$5,348m

2029/30

$5,541m

2030/31

$5,725m

Net totals, after the income tax cut (about $2.3bn a year) and extra Inland Revenue funding. Modelled by the Parliamentary Library using Inland Revenue, Stats NZ, Reserve Bank and Treasury data. The document states that behavioural response is beyond the models’ scope, though it assumes 28.5 percent of the net-assets tax revenue would be lost to avoidance and evasion.

In their own words

“The person receiving the inheritance or gift will pay the tax, not the estate or person passing it on.”
A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026 · How it will work — Capital Acquisitions Tax

“Modelling the behavioural response to a change in the tax system is beyond the scope of these models.”
A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026 · Modelling assumptions

“Costings for each policy have been projected through to the end of 2031 and are estimates only based on the best available information.”
A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026 · Modelling assumptions

What the document doesn’t settle

Points the document defers or leaves undefined. These are gaps in the document, not criticisms of the policy.

The document does not say when the changes would take effect; the costings begin in 2027/28.
Beyond property, shares and bonds having known values, and art over $50,000 being taken at its insured value, it does not set out how net assets would be valued each year.
Behavioural response to the changes is excluded from the modelling, which the document states directly.
Flow-on effects on other tax revenue — it gives GST and company tax as examples — are described as uncertain and are not included.

Summarised from A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026, published by Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Authorised by Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick, Green Party Co-leaders, Parliament Buildings, Wellington. Read 2026-08-14.

Link to the published document to come.

Back to Green on Housing

Green on Housing

Housing · In depth

A tax system for all of us

In depth — from Green’s policy document

Tax on net assets

2.5% a year over $10m

$20m for a couple, after debts; family home exempt

Inheritances and gifts

33% over $1m

Paid by the recipient; family home and farm exempt

Large company rate

33%

Turnover over $30m; small and medium firms stay at 28%

Tax-free threshold

First $10,000

The party says 96% of people get a tax cut

New top rate

45% over $160,000

On the portion above the threshold

Net revenue

$5.1bn in 2027/28

After the income tax cut; party’s own modelling

What would be taxed more

Net assets above $10 million, or $20 million for a couple, at 2.5 percent a year
Inheritances and gifts received above $1 million, at 33 percent
Companies with turnover above $30 million, at 33 percent instead of 28
Banks with more than $100 billion in liabilities, at 0.06 percent of total liabilities
Profits sent offshore by large multinationals, through the 5 percent withholding rate
Income above $160,000, at 45 percent

What is exempt or unchanged

The family home, from the tax on net assets
Family homes and family farms, from the inheritance and gift tax
Māori land under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act, and the assets of Post-Settlement Governance Entities
The assets of charities, NGOs and clubs
Small and medium businesses, which stay on the 28 percent company rate

How it would work

The tax on net assets

Covers property, shares and bonds, which the document says have known values because they trade often
Artworks and similar worth more than $50,000 are valued at what they are insured for
Wealth in a discretionary trust is assessed against the settlor; a fixed-interest trust is apportioned to beneficiaries

The Capital Acquisitions Tax

A higher company rate for large firms only

A levy on the big banks

Enforcing withholding tax on offshore profits

Reversing the two property tax changes

The proposed income tax scale

Seven brackets replacing the current five, with the first $10,000 untaxed and a new top rate on income over $160,000. Only the portion above each threshold is taxed at that rate.

$0–$9,999 at 0% · $10,000–$19,999 at 10% · $20,000–$39,999 at 17.5%
$40,000–$59,999 at 25.5% · $60,000–$79,999 at 30.5% · $80,000–$159,999 at 33.5%
$160,000 and over at 45%

Worked examples

These scenarios and figures are Green’s own, from the document.

Two inheritances, one taxed and one not

The situation

In the first, someone is gifted a family home worth $1.5 million and $250,000 in shares
In the second, someone is gifted a family home worth $1.5 million and $1.25 million in shares and bonds

What happens

The first pays nothing — the family home is exempt, and what is left is under the $1 million threshold
The second pays 33 percent on $250,000, being the value above $1 million once the family home is excluded

What they expect it to raise

2027/28

$5,147m

2028/29

$5,348m

2029/30

$5,541m

2030/31

$5,725m

In their own words

“The person receiving the inheritance or gift will pay the tax, not the estate or person passing it on.”
A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026 · How it will work — Capital Acquisitions Tax

“Modelling the behavioural response to a change in the tax system is beyond the scope of these models.”
A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026 · Modelling assumptions

“Costings for each policy have been projected through to the end of 2031 and are estimates only based on the best available information.”
A tax system for all of us — Tax policy 2026 · Modelling assumptions

What the document doesn’t settle

Points the document defers or leaves undefined. These are gaps in the document, not criticisms of the policy.

The document does not say when the changes would take effect; the costings begin in 2027/28.
Beyond property, shares and bonds having known values, and art over $50,000 being taken at its insured value, it does not set out how net assets would be valued each year.
Behavioural response to the changes is excluded from the modelling, which the document states directly.
Flow-on effects on other tax revenue — it gives GST and company tax as examples — are described as uncertain and are not included.

Link to the published document to come.

Back to Green on Housing

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A tax system for all of us

How it would work

Worked examples

What they expect it to raise

In their own words

What the document doesn’t settle

A tax system for all of us

How it would work

Worked examples

What they expect it to raise

In their own words

What the document doesn’t settle

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