'Too combative': Hipkins speaks to Jackson over tax remarks

Author: Jamie Ensor,
Publish Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026, 2:42pm

Labour leader Chris Hipkins (left) says he has spoken to Willie Jackson (right) after the latter was unclear about the party's tax policy in an interview on Friday. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has spoken with Willie Jackson after the senior MP appeared unable to explain the party’s capital gains tax during an interview.

Hipkins told the Bay of Plenty Times today that he retained confidence in Jackson, but he “should have been a lot clearer”.

Jackson, appearing on Ryan Bridge TODAY alongside National’s Paul Goldsmith, was asked whether Labour’s capital gains tax (CGT) policy would apply if a business that owned commercial property sold that property.

“My information, I need to get back to Barbara [Edmonds, Labour finance spokeswoman] on this... I don’t think so, I don’t think so. I need to do a check with Barbara,” he said. “Look, I am not the finance spokesman for goodness’ sake. We have got one tax. It’s called capital gains tax.”

Jackson repeatedly called the National Party “liars” and at one point told Goldsmith to “go jump in the lake” as the panel discussed the CGT policy.

“It’s one tax as far as I know. You guys are trying to find every little area where you could be paying capital gains tax.”

Labour’s CGT policy document says while the tax would not impact “business assets”, it would apply to gains made when a commercial property is sold from July next year.

National has argued this is in effect a tax on businesses because they may own commercial property that could be taxed on sale. Labour does have a carve-out for small businesses selling their premises to buy a larger property.

Hipkins told the Bay of Plenty Times in Tauranga on Friday that Jackson “should have been a lot clearer about Labour’s tax policy”.

“I’ve had a conversation with him about that. It is very clear. It’s a very simple, targeted capital gains tax. It applies to residential properties, excluding the family home, and commercial buildings and that is all it applies to.”

He said he still had confidence in Jackson, but again noted the MP could have been clearer.

“I think he was being combative, which Willie can sometimes be. But in doing that, he should have been clearer that our policy is actually very simple.”

Hipkins said Jackson was aware of the details, “but I think he was just trying to be a bit too combative in that”.

“He should have just been upfront and clear about what the policy was and I’ve conveyed that to him”.

Asked whether the CGT did impact businesses because it applied to commercial property, Hipkins responded: “No, because ultimately businesses are not covered by the capital gains tax”.

“If a business owns a property that is sold, and they sell the property as part of a sale of a business, only the sale of the property is where capital gains tax applies. It does not apply to the sale of businesses per se. But it may apply to a commercial premises that’s owned by a business.”

In a statement earlier, National campaign chairman Simeon Brown said Jackson had “created more confusion” about the CGT. He accused Jackson of “extensive flailing” and being incorrect about the impact of the policy.

“The truth is that, according to Labour’s own website, the only exemption from Labour’s capital gains tax is for businesses selling a property to move into a larger one. Every other sale of commercial property will be subject to the capital gains tax.”

Brown said if “Labour is this chaotic and confused” when talking about the CGT, “imagine what the implementation would be like”.

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.