The Green Party launched its 2026 election manifesto at its Annual General Meeting in south Auckland over the weekend, putting a set of new tax measures at the centre of its pitch to voters. The package includes a wealth tax, an inheritance tax, and a higher top income tax rate.

Co-leader Marama Davidson told party members the Greens' priorities include taxing the "super-rich" and addressing "corporate greed" to reinvest in public services. Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, who delivered a speech at the AGM, described the party's policies as "evidence-based". Multiple members and supporters at the gathering voiced support for taxing wealth. RNZ

The manifesto proposes a tax-free threshold for income below $10,000, an increased tax rate for income over $160,000, new corporate taxes, a wealth tax, and an inheritance tax. A wealth tax applies to a person's total net assets (what they own minus what they owe) rather than just their income. An inheritance tax is charged on the estate of someone who has died before it passes to beneficiaries. The package is the Greens' most detailed tax offering heading into the 2026 campaign. RNZ

Swarbrick drew a parallel between the party's tax proposals and the establishment of public healthcare, education, and housing in the 1930s and 1940s, which were funded by higher taxes on the wealthy. She framed the Greens' agenda as a continuation of that tradition rather than a departure from it. RNZ

Finance Minister Nicola Willis moved quickly to contest the policy. She said imposing a wealth tax would cause wealth to leave New Zealand, telling reporters: "If you impose a wealth tax, you're kicking wealth out the door." Willis referenced a Treasury paper which found that higher wealth taxes lead to taxable wealth going offshore or being avoided through restructuring — where assets are rearranged to reduce the amount subject to tax. RNZ

The exchange sets up a familiar dividing line for the 2026 campaign. The Greens are betting that a wealth-and-inheritance tax platform can be sold to the electorate as fairness and reinvestment. The government will argue the same measures would trigger capital flight — the movement of money and assets out of a country — and revenue erosion, citing Treasury's own analysis. Both positions now have public, on-record framing: the Greens through Swarbrick's historical comparison and Davidson's rhetoric around "corporate greed," Willis through her direct Treasury citation.

For the Greens, the AGM served as both a manifesto launch and a rally point. The party published speeches from the event on its official website. greens.org.nz The south Auckland venue and the visible enthusiasm from members for taxing wealth signal the party intends to campaign hard on redistribution rather than moderate its platform to chase centrist voters.

The policy detail matters because of how it intersects with the wider tax debate. A tax-free threshold below $10,000 and a higher rate above $160,000 would reshape the income tax schedule at both ends, while the wealth and inheritance taxes would introduce levies New Zealand currently does not collect at all. The corporate tax component adds a further business-facing element.

The broader context here is Willis's reliance on a Treasury paper to push back. Rather than contesting the Greens on fairness grounds, the government's line of attack is technical: Treasury says high wealth taxes lead to avoidance and offshore movement, therefore the revenue assumptions underpinning the Greens' public-services spending promises are unreliable. Whether that argument lands with voters who may not distinguish between a wealth tax and a higher income tax rate is a separate question.

Swarbrick's "evidence-based" framing is a direct counter to that line of attack, asserting the Greens have done the policy work. Her comparison to the 1930s–40s expansion of the welfare state is also a strategic choice, situating the Greens' agenda within a mainstream New Zealand political tradition rather than presenting it as novel or radical. The success of that positioning will depend on whether voters accept the analogy or see a wealth tax as materially different from the income-based levies that funded earlier expansions.

What is clear is that the Greens have chosen their ground for 2026. The manifesto is built around taxing concentrated wealth more heavily, and the party is not hedging that pitch. Willis has signalled the government will meet that head-on with Treasury's modelling as its primary weapon. The tax debate that has flickered through recent electoral cycles now has its sharpest definition yet.