26 April 2016

Government should just ban foreign speculators

The Prime Minister’s musings about a land tax on non-resident buyers is just more tinkering, and the Government should just ban foreign speculators as the Australian Government has done, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“This is classic John Key. Just enough to get the issue off the front page. Just enough to make it look as if he is doing something.

“The overwhelming majority of Kiwis support Labour’s policy. It is simple, it is clean, and in Australia the requirement for foreign investors to build new homes has channelled $30 billion into new home construction in the past year.

“The Prime Minister is a day late and a dollar short. He has been rubbishing Labour’s policy for the past three years, and denying that foreign speculators are even a problem. He refused to even try to negotiate a carve-out for a ban in the TPPA. And now he has some complicated land tax idea that would apply to Kiwis who happen to be working or living overseas.

“John Key needs to reflect on the number of young Kiwi first home buyers who have had their dream of home ownership destroyed while he has been protecting the interests of the mega-rich and speculators,” Phil Twyford says.

ENDS

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