Te Pāti Māori's 'Kiwi tax plan': nine policies, including a new 5% stamp duty on property
Te Pāti Māori released its "Kiwi tax plan" on 26 August 2026, ahead of the November general election. The package sets out nine tax changes, including a new 5 percent stamp duty on residential property sales. (RNZ)
The stamp duty is the only entirely new policy in the package. It would apply to residential property sales but exempt first home buyers purchasing properties under $1 million. Stamp duty is a tax charged on property and land transactions, usually paid by the buyer rather than the seller. It operates in countries including the UK, the US, several EU member states, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and some Australian states, but is not currently part of the New Zealand tax system.
The party said it called the plan the "Kiwi tax plan" because it was "a tax policy for everyone", not about Māori versus non-Māori or workers versus business. (RNZ)
The wealth tax component carries over the party's long-standing flagship proposal from previous elections. It would impose a 1.5 percent levy on net wealth above $2 million, rising to 2 percent above $5 million and 2.5 percent for $10 million or more. A wealth tax of this kind applies to a person's total assets minus their debts, not to annual income.
On the enforcement side, Te Pāti Māori has doubled its promised funding to tackle tax evasion and fraud from $500 million to $1 billion compared with its 2023 position.
Four of the nine policies are unchanged from the party's 2023 election proposals. These include income tax adjustments, returning the company tax rate from 28 percent to 33 percent, and introducing land banking and vacant house taxes.
Three policies are revised versions of 2023 commitments. The most notable is the replacement of the party's 2023 promise to remove GST from fresh food with a targeted tax credit for people earning under $60,000 a year, described by the party as "equivalent to eight weeks of kai". (RNZ)
Te Pāti Māori said its proposed income tax rebalancing would see 97 percent of New Zealanders paying less income tax, with about 4.2 million people receiving on average an additional $4,000 a year.
When asked by Stuff earlier in the year what Te Pāti Māori's budget would have focused on, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said a budget reflects choices and values. (Facebook)
The broader context here is the messaging. Te Pāti Māori has framed the Kiwi tax plan as universal in its appeal, explicitly stepping away from the Māori-versus-non-Māori framing that often accompanies the party's policy announcements. Under MMP, where coalition or confidence-and-supply partners decide who governs, that framing choice matters. A stamp duty, a wealth tax and a company tax rate increase to 33 percent all sit well to the left of the current government's settings, and would face real negotiation hurdles with any centre-right partner.
The shift from removing GST on fresh food to a targeted tax credit also points to a more fiscally targeted approach. Removing GST from fresh food is a broad concession that benefits higher-income households disproportionately, because they spend more in absolute terms on food. A tax credit capped at $60,000 in earnings directs the same fiscal effort toward lower-income earners. Whether Treasury or the finance spokespeople of other parties scrutinise that revision during the campaign is one to watch.
The doubling of anti-evasion funding to $1 billion also signals where Te Pāti Māori sees the revenue base for its spending commitments. Wealth taxes and company tax increases are typically costed on a gross basis — that is, before accounting for the revenue lost to avoidance. The enforcement uplift suggests the party is factoring in the compliance risk that a substantially different tax system would create. Inland Revenue's capacity to deliver enforcement on that scale, and the fiscal assumptions underpinning the party's modelling, will likely be tested in the coming weeks.
