Land Tax a Disgraceful Cop-Out

26 APRIL 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Government’s consideration of a land tax on foreign purchasers as a cop-out by the Government to fix New Zealand’s housing affordability crisis. Jordan Williams, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director says:

“The National Party went into the 2014 election promising no new taxes. This is a broken promise, a middle figure to those wanting to invest in New Zealand and Kiwis wanting to do an OE. The Government need to explain why it matters whether your landlord lives down the road, in Picton, or resides in Sydney.”

“For years every expert in the country has been saying that the reason New Zealand has such expensive housing is because of regulatory constraints on supply. Now, having poured money on the demand side with taxpayer subsidies for first home buyers, the politicians are continuing to focus on the wrong end of the equation.”

“New Zealand’s housebuilding peaked in 1974 when we had a population of only 3 million. Now with a population of 4.5 million we’re still nowhere near the numbers we used to build. It is a disgrace and shows the failings of multiple governments to fix New Zealand’s planning laws and the regulatory taxes they impose.”

“Instead of fixing housing supply, it appears that the Government is going to choose the easy option. Tax the foreigners; try to dampen investment; and ignore the evidence that it is the Government’s own failure to fix the RMA which is more responsible than any foreign buyer for locking my generation out of the housing market.”

ENDS

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