'Not going to happen': Barbara Edmonds says Labour won't support Opportunity's land tax

Author: Tom Rose,
Publish Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2026, 9:57am

Barbara Edmonds says Labour will not support the Opportunity Party’s proposed land tax but remains coy about how far it would take other spending commitments.

Edmonds, Labour’s finance spokeswoman, ruled out the proposal after her colleague Willie Jackson suggested Labour might be open to Opportunity’s proposal if the tax percentage could be negotiated.

Under Opportunity’s land value tax, property owners in urban areas would be charged an annual rate of 1.75%, reduced to 0.5% for rural land.

Opportunity’s tax plan also features a $4 billion savings proposal to streamline social services and provide a more efficient public service, which leader Quilae Wong has admitted would lead to job losses.

Speaking on Ryan Bridge TODAY, Edmonds clarified Jackson’s earlier comments, saying Labour wouldn’t support Opportunity’s land tax in its entirety.

“It’s not going to happen, and Chris Hipkins said that later in your show,” Edmonds said.

Labour's finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds has ruled out the Opportunity Party’s land tax proposal. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Labour's finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds has ruled out the Opportunity Party’s land tax proposal. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“The one tax that we are taking to the election is a simple, targeted capital gains tax which nine out of 10 New Zealanders won’t pay.”

Asked what Labour would do to address shortfalls in its fiscal plan (National’s finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis has estimated the gap between Labour’s potential and confirmed policies and the money available to fund them to be around $18.2bn), Edmonds wouldn’t give a number but said Labour was committed to advancing previously canned pay equity negotiations.

“[National have] put nothing aside, and Labour will have a contingency in our fiscal plan for pay equity because we are committed to bringing that legislation back.”

Pressed further, Edmonds said Treasury last estimated the number would be around $10bn.

Nonetheless, Labour would “ensure there is a sufficient contingency in our fiscal plan for pay equity” – with Edmonds noting that the claims “are a negotiation” between unions and employers.

“The main thing is that the Government sets no money aside whatsoever, despite saying they are committed to pay equity.

“Labour is committed to pay equity, and we will have a contingency in our fiscal plan for that.”

Edmonds described the latest public service cuts – which formalise a plan to mandate baseline savings of 12% across most agencies and reduce the core workforce to 55,000 fulltime equivalent staff within three years – as “disgusting and cruel”.

However, she wouldn’t rule out Labour keeping them in place until the party knew what jobs and services would be impacted.

Asked whether she would cancel the proposed cuts, Edmonds said Labour will “have a look at it as part of our fiscal plan, and so it’ll be really clear when we set that out”.

“We do agree they are disgusting and cruel because they’re arbitrary.

“When I asked Treasury over a month ago, where are those cuts going to be, they said, ‘Well, CEs are working on their plans’.

“So we want to see where they get up to, and we will cover a contingency for our fiscal plan.”