John MacDonald: Is no more taxes really what NZ needs right now?

Author: John MacDonald,
Publish Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2026, 12:15pm

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Is National’s promise of no new taxes as good as it sounds?

If you ask Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, he’ll say no. Because he’s been pushing for a bed tax for tourists and, yesterday, Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis announced that that won’t be happening under National.

Wayne Brown won’t be the only person upset, either. You ask anyone in tourism or local government and they’ll tell you that a bed tax is a no-brainer.

But, if you ask the banks, they’ll say no new taxes is brilliant. Because, as well as ditching the bed tax idea, National has dropped the other tax it had been mulling over. Which was a levy on bank profits.

Christopher Luxon says neither of those will happen under National. Because they would have just been passed on to customers. Or “everyday Kiwis”, as Christopher Luxon put it.

We know, though, that the real reason National has dropped these two new taxes is because, being election year, all it thinks about is catchy slogans. And you can’t go bringing in new taxes if your catchy slogan says no new taxes.

But is that approach really what’s best for the country? I don’t think it is. Which is where Labour comes into it. Announcing a few details of its finance plan over the weekend.

At this point, let me remind you of my position on Labour. I think it has wasted the last three years and does not deserve to form the next government.

The latest poll out this morning, though, the RNZ-Reid Research poll, says a small majority of voters don’t feel that way and has Labour on 32 percent and National on 29 percent.

But I think Labour has just coasted since losing the election three years ago and hasn’t come up with any good reasons to give it another turn this time around.

That said, when you compare National and Labour’s approach to taxation and spending and you consider what the country needs right now, Labour’s approach makes a lot more sense.

There are bits that don’t. Such as the free doctor visits for everyone. Which would be paid for, apparently, by Labour’s new capital gains tax. And be available to everyone. Even people who can well afford to pay to go to the GP themselves.

But, when you consider what Labour and National have been talking about over the past 24 hours, it comes down to this: Labour wants to tax more and spend more, while National wants taxes to stay as they are and to spend a bit less.

Your gut instinct might be to go with no new taxes and less government spending.

But is that really what this country needs right now?

As independent economist Cameron Bagrie said this morning, if you want things like better health services, you have to pay more tax.

If you want Health NZ to hire more than just the miserly 54 new nurses it’s taken on over the last two years, do you think we’re going to do that without putting a bit more coin in the tin ourselves? Of course not.

More cops with no new taxes and less government spending? Be honest. Of course not.

That’s why Labour’s tax talk is way more realistic than National’s.

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