Green Faithful Voice Support For Taxing Wealth

Tuwhenuaroa
Natanahira Political reporter

Green
Party supporters have made clear what their priority for the
election is: tax the rich.

Green MPs, candidates and
the party faithful gathered in south Auckland over the
weekend for their annual general meeting, where the party’s
2026
manifesto was unveiled.

RNZ spoke to a number of
party supporters and members at the AGM.

One member
told RNZ he would “love putting a tax on
wealth”.

“We’ve got GST, we’ve got income taxes and
the people that are working week to week – all their
expendable money is taxed. [But] the people that are
privileged beyond that, they have a lot of increase in
wealth that’s not taxed and I’d like to see that redressed,”
he said.

That was backed up by another member, who
said it was “energising” to have other members on the same
page.

“We need tax reform so that we can do all the
good things, so we can look after each other and our
nature,” she said. “Tax reform is fundamental to all of the
policies.”

“Even people who have got a lot, they say
to us they’re happy to pay more if we can have healthcare
for everyone, good schools that work for everyone, better
public transport, and we look after our natural places –
absolutely,” she claimed.

The Greens want a suite
of new taxes on wealth, inheritance, and corporations,
and want to adjust tax settings to introduce a tax-free
threshold for income below $10,000, while increasing the tax
rate for income over $160,000.

One supporter told RNZ
making income below $10,000 tax-free was
“essential”.

“How is this not a policy
already?”

“My mum was on the benefit and then had a
job as a cleaner, and she was getting taxed and then when
WINZ made a mistake in that she had to pay that back as well
as get taxed, as well as be trying to support someone as a
solo parent,” she said. “That’s the kind of policy that will
actually materially support our most vulnerable
people.”

A volunteer attending his first ever Green
Party AGM told RNZ he joined the party because its policies
were “evidence-based” and “rooted in caring”.

“We’ve
got the wealth tax that we’d love to bring in, that’s
awesome, fully support that,” he said. “[The] most kind of
like, interesting radical ones are the ones I really want to
push for.”

Speaking to media, party co-leader Marama
Davidson said the party’s priorities were clear.

“Our
priorities so far are that we will tax the super-rich and
address corporate greed so that we can invest that back into
the services that people rely on,” she said.

Fellow
co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said their “evidence-based”
policy spoke for itself.

“In the 1930s and 40s, our
great-grandparents did something that had never been done
before. They established public healthcare, public
education, public housing, and they paid for it all by
higher taxes on those who profited handsomely during a time
of hardship for many,” she said.

Speaking to media at
a National
Party policy announcement, Finance Minister Nicola
Willis said the issue was simple.

“If you impose a
wealth tax, you’re kicking wealth out the door,” she
said.

Willis made reference to a Treasury paper which
found a wealth tax would see taxable wealth go either
offshore or avoided.

“The Treasury evidence on that
point is very clear. They say the higher your wealth taxes,
the more you will lose and it’s interesting to me that Chloe
Swarbrick, who often says ‘evidence-based policy’ on this
issue, has just completely ignored the international and
Treasury evidence because it doesn’t suit her,” she
said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said a wealth
tax was “not the way forward” for New Zealand.

“The
way forward is to follow the plan to lift and improve
affordability for New Zealanders and have a proper long-term
economic plan that’s actually about driving growth into the
economy. That’s how we propel our way forward, not by taxing
it and putting a wrecking ball through the economy,” he
said.

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