Revenue Minister David Parker has confirmed Labour is already wobbling on its election promise not to alter income taxes this term, National’s Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly says.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has asked Treasury for advice on extending the bright-line test on property, which Mr Parker described this morning as an ‘income tax’.

“If the Government does end up extending the bright-line test this would be at odds with its election commitment to ‘no further income tax changes for at least the next three years’.

“National said during the election campaign that Labour could not be trusted on tax, and it only took a few weeks for them to prove us right.

“Extending the bright-line test won’t make any material difference to New Zealand’s housing issues because it doesn’t address the problem of supply. Taxes don’t build houses.

“We must remove the barriers that are preventing new houses being from built, which means freeing up land, fast-tracking projects caught in the consenting go-slow and building the infrastructure needed for new subdivisions.

“The Government must urgently address the supply constraints by replacing the Resource Management Act.”

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