MEDIA RELEASE
Tax Working Group proposes capital gains tax in all but name

20 SEPTEMBER 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Extending the net of capital income taxation will still hit taxpayers, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union Economist Joe Ascroft says “This report will do nothing to inspire confidence in the business sector or boost the economy.”

“While the Group isn’t backing a separate capital gains tax regime, the Group’s capital income tax proposal functions effectively as a capital gains tax with shares and other assets to be subject to tax on realised capital gains. They may fool people in the short term, but it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.”

“There seems to be lots of excitement around using the tax system to improve the environment. Small businesses will be angry with a proposed increase in the waste disposal levy, while motorists won’t appreciate a strengthening of the emissions trading scheme when they are already being slammed at the petrol pump.”

ENDS

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