The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Prime Minister to definitively rule out a death tax under her leadership.

Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Prior to the 2017 election, Jacinda Ardern said of a death tax, ‘That's not what we're looking at - that's off.’”

“But four years and two elections later, Revenue Minister David Parker now has his bean counters at Inland Revenue investigating New Zealanders’ wealth, and specifically, our inherited wealth. And instead of firmly ruling out a death or wealth tax, he now just says it’s ‘not being considered’. That is far from a firm ruling out.”

“Parker also points to the promise in Labour’s election manifesto, but that manifesto only rules out implementing new taxes in the current three-year term of government, leaving Parker free to do the groundwork to introduce a tax after the 2023 election.”

“Indeed, Jacinda Ardern never ruled out a death tax as firmly as she did with a capital gains tax. After a massive backlash against that proposal, she stared down the barrel of the camera and ruled out ever introducing a capital gains tax as long as she was Prime Minister. Taxpayers deserve that same kind of reassurance about a death tax.”

On Monday the Taxpayers’ Union published five reasons New Zealand doesn’t need a death tax.

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