NZ First Wants Smaller Businesses to Pay Less Tax
New Zealand First wants to cut company tax to 20 percent for businesses with turnover under $30 million, according to RNZ.
The rate is now 28 percent. The party says its plan would cost the Government $1 billion.
The party called it a "much-needed bold step to encourage investment, expansion, productivity and employment".
What counts is turnover — much like the total money through the till before bills are paid — not the business type alone or staff numbers. Inland Revenue would use the $30 million line, and firms near it would need to plan around it.
People who work for themselves pay tax as individuals, according to Inland Revenue. This company-rate change is separate from that system. Sole traders stay on personal rates.
For comparison, the average company tax rate in OECD countries is 24.2 percent, according to the Tax Foundation.
As background, New Zealand First's 2023 policies included a 20 percent tax for exporters on new business or product lines. The party published its 'Power to the People' State of the Nation address on 23 March 2026.
To put this in context, the party's wider record on tax has been hands-on and deal by deal.
The party has also called for cutting the price of cigarettes to $20. Leader Winston Peters said the party intended to "stop punishing smokers with high excise tax". In August 2026, Peters questioned whether the National Party could stop a bed tax. In November 2024, as Deputy Prime Minister, Peters said the Government's tax cuts had failed to improve the economy and had masked its problems.
The broader context here is how this idea would be talked through and set up under MMP, where parties must join together to govern. The $1 billion figure will face questions about how it was worked out, and the line between companies that get 20 percent and other businesses on personal rates will be central to who is covered. Treasury and other economists will check the first revenue-loss estimate against changes in behaviour, like more firms becoming companies, shifting profits to stay under the line, and any extra investment. Officials will also look at rules for related companies, steps to stop avoidance, and what happens when a firm grows past $30 million.
Looking at what this means for coalition politics, the policy is both an economic offer and a starting point for talks. It is different from a general tax cut because it aims at smaller companies and links the cut to investment, expansion, productivity and employment. It sits with earlier calls for specific help, from exporters to smokers, and doubts about broad cuts. The questions to press are simple. How is turnover defined. How are subsidiaries treated. Does the $1 billion allow for growth in the number of firms that qualify. And how does a company-rate cut fit with personal rates for the self-employed.
