17 Aug 2017

Would Labour introduce capital gains tax if in govt?

From Morning Report, 7:47 am on 17 August 2017

It's marginally more affordable to buy your first home than it was two years ago, new figures show, but Labour's housing spokesperson Phil Twyford tells us more needs to be done to fight rising prices.

"We need to tax speculators, and we've put a number of policies out there extending the bright line test out to five years so that speculators would pay income tax on the capital gain on a rental property that they sell in five years."

Mr Twyford did not determine if Labour would bring in a capital gains tax, but did not say it was out of the question.

"Our finance spokesperson Grant Robertson, and Jacinda Ardern, have made it quite clear that they're not ruling anything out and they're not ruling anything in."

He says if in government, Labour would open a process "to look at the options for making a tax system that's fairer and more efficient".