‘A Deal Is A Deal’: Bed Tax Still Government Policy, According To Winston Peters

Giles
Dexter Political reporter

New
Zealand First leader Winston Peters says bed levies in
Auckland and Queenstown are still on the table, and if other
parties want to renege on a deal to even consider a levy,
that’s up to them.

As part of its ‘no new taxes’
commitment, National has ruled
out a bed tax if re-elected.

The move disappointed
the mayors of Queenstown and Auckland in particular,
with Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown aggrieved given a commitment
to explore a bed tax was part of the Auckland Regional
Deal.

“The deal is meaningless if the government
cannot honour even a relatively modest commitment to explore
an agreed proposal,” Brown said.

Peters said the deal
was made with the coalition government and those cities, not
National and those cities.

“The signed deal with
Auckland states that these levies will be considered by the
government in 2027 – nothing has changed,” he said in a
social media post.

“The GOVERNMENT has NOT considered
it yet. If other parties want to campaign on reneging on the
deal to even consider the levy that’s up to them. But in NZ
First we believe a deal is a deal.”

He accused the
prime minister of going back on his word.

“When he
made that statement, he was talking on behalf of the
government, and we’re going to make sure the government
keeps its word. The National Party may not keep theirs, but
we’re keeping ours.”

Peters said New Zealand First’s
view was that international tourists should be open to a bed
levy that helps pay for key tourism infrastructure.

He
believed it would be possible to make the levy only apply to
international visitors.

“It’d be easy to do, just like
Te Papa. If you walk in there and you’re a New Zealander,
you don’t get charged.”

National’s concern has been
that New Zealanders may end up being caught up having to pay
the levy.

Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said
while the government’s policy was to explore a bed tax,
National’s view was that in exploring it, there were
problems and alternatives.

Willis indicated National
would propose policies at the election to provide more
support to local government in areas with significant
tourism.

“We don’t think it’s viable to make every
Kiwi pay more for their holiday. Winston Peters clearly does
think that’s a winner of a proposition. Up to him to go and
argue it on the campaign trail.”

The Department of
Conservation also trialled differential pricing for Great
Walks from 2018-2020, and conservation minister Tama Potaka
has been looking at work to charge foreign visitors to
access high-volume sites like Cathedral Cove, Tongariro
Crossing, Milford Sound, and Aoraki Mount Cook, while
keeping them free for domestic visitors.

But when
asked whether that mechanism could be applied to the bed
levy, Potaka deflected.

“My understanding is Labour is
an absolute expert on tax. So maybe you should ask the
Labour Party and their leadership how they want those taxes
to be to be laid out on those beds.”

Labour leader
Chris Hipkins said the prime minister’s signature was the
one on the page, not the National Party
leader’s.

“Last I knew, he was still prime minister.
It may not feel like that all of the time, but actually he
is the prime minister in this government,” he
said.

“If the mayors across the country can’t trust
Christopher Luxon’s signature, why should any New
Zealanders?”

ACT leader David Seymour said it was
“theoretically true” that the government was still
considering a bed tax, but he was clear it should not be
introducing new taxes.

Seymour said National had not
been unfaithful, but had been inconsistent.

“We were
never going to agree to it, but, you know, the National
Party was going to support it. Now they’re not, and I think
that’s
great.”

© Scoop Media