The Green Party believes the wealthiest three per cent of New Zealanders should pay more in tax, with the revenue going towards addressing inequality and child poverty.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei unveiled the policy at the party’s campaign launch in Auckland yesterday. She said the party’s new income and trust tax rate would affect only three per cent of tax payers, but generate more than $1 billion that could be put towards helping the very poorest families.
The revenue would enable the Greens to expand the current Working for Families in-work tax credit to also cover beneficiaries and students.
Ms Turei said that would mean an extra $60 a week for up to 150,000 families.
“This money will transform the lives of these kids, it’ll mean the difference between having warm clothes, school books, lunch, turning on the heater when they’re cold,” she said.
The Greens would extend the Parental Tax Credit to beneficiaries with newborns, who currently miss out.
Co-leader Russel Norman said the tax rise would also fund the party’s previously announced policies of school hubs in low-decile schools and free healthcare for all teenagers.
The policy has been endorsed by Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton, who attended the campaign launch.