April 15, 2026 • 8 mins
Inland Revenue has claimed New Zealand needs higher taxes, building off earlier arguments made by Treasury.
It sees scope to increase the goods and services tax (GST) rate - offering a cash transfer to low-income earners - and tax more capital gains.
NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now Inland Revenue says taxes need to rise, and it
favors a higher GST rate and a capital gains tax.
The Herald's Wellington business editor Genative Train, he's been looking
into this and is with us now, howgday, Hey heaven.
Have they said how high they want GST to go?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
They haven't said that, But what they have said is
they reckon the tax system needs to be designed in
such a way that it makes it easier for governments
to lift tax rates should governments need more money. So
Inland Revenue and the Treasury have been ringing the alarm
bells over the fact our population is aging. We basically
(00:38):
aren't projected to have enough tax coming in to pay
for all the looming costs around healthcare, suberanuation, that type
of thing. So they say that they assume that in
the future governments will fix this. Governments haven't been fixing it,
but they reckon at some point they will have to
fix it. But they don't know if governments will fix
it by cutting spending or by hiking taxes. So they say,
(01:02):
because we don't know what the future holds, we should
set up the tax system in such a way that
we can hike rates should it be required. So that's
why they haven't said, you know, how much they think
GCT should be increased by. But they do say if
governments do that, they recommend offering a cash transferred to
low income earners because of course, you know, if GST
(01:23):
rate goes up, that really hits low income earners disproportionately hard.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So how would this cash transfer work.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So it could be like a tax rebate or something
like that at different levels. You know, Basically increasing the
GST rate is regressive, so they don't want that, but
they think that if they you know, if we get
to the point we have to increase GEST, they transfer
some money back, then we can also have a capital
(01:56):
gains tax. So that's the other one that they're flagged
now I mean controversial.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, so i ID wants a treasury wants it. The
problem is, of course, the politicians are the gatekeepers and
we're in the cost of living crisis. That ain't going
to happen, is it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, you know that's the thing. The economy is on
shaky ground. We're truly looking at a stagflation environment. Any
politician coming out now to say the hiking taxes is
literally you know, secured an absolute fail at the election.
You know, people will say, well, Labour's keen on the
capital gains tax. That's true, but Labour's capital gains tax
(02:31):
is actually pretty narrow. They only wanted to apply, you know,
to houses sold after they were they they've been bought
after a certain date, you know, So that will really
limit the revenue that would be generated, and you know,
due to the narrowness of it, and then revenue saying
we actually need more tax income and CGT could be
(02:54):
a good option, but it would need to be broader,
you know. So so I guess in Land revenue and
and the Treasury, I'm at looking what they're writing and
it is at a completely different level to what the
politicians are saying. So either our economic stewards are completely
off track or the politicians are completely off track. But
there is no one political party that is saying we're
(03:17):
going to tax you more. We're going to give you
less for that tax because we need to save money
for the future. And that is the message that is
resonating quite strongly from the Treasury and their revenue.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Interesting. Jennay, thanks very much, appreciate it. As always. Jenati Trainy,
the Herald's Wellington Business Editor. It's twenty away from sex
Lord out by an entire hour, twenty away from seven
Try that one on. Do you know what? They can
take a running jump? Can't they? Ird and Treasury can
take a running jump? Because you know what would be
a better idea than raising taxes, hiking up the GST,
(03:50):
hiking up the capital gains sex What would be a
better idea is if we cut spending, like, for example,
the thing we've been talking about on this show, and
last the three hundred thousand dollars given to some project
to watch kids paint pictures text on that evening, Heather,
thanks for trying to get MB and Auckland UNI on
to tell us how our three hundred thousand dollars was
wisely spent. Today I also got to see the photo
(04:10):
of the three by two meters Kumita patch that we
all paid twenty five thousand to twenty five thousand dollars
per square meter for. Maybe the head hon show Nichola
Willis can tell us how this is good use of
taxpayers dollars. Great, quite right, So before they come at
us asking for a little bit more of the old
Goods and Services tax, I go, how many kumra patches
you paid for today?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Mate?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Just out of interest? How many kids did we get
to do the finger painting of the trees? Yeah? Did we?
Did we pay for any of those whales songs that
we needed to play to the trees to see if
it helped the trees? Yeah? How about you start cutting
the wasteful spending on that and then we can talk
about maybe raising taxes. Now, we'll just put that one away,
because that's just made us un just disproportionately angry that
people could be this stupid. I've just you know what,
(04:51):
can I just say? I'm always surprised that this beautiful
country has created enough morons, Like somehow we have managed
to create enough morons to actually, through the whole food chain,
managed to make that payment possible. Don't you think that's
a remarkable thing. Like, first of all, there's the moron
(05:14):
who was like, you know what I want to do.
I want money to watch kids paint pictures of trees
and see if that helps with Cowie die back, I
know that's what I'm that moron. That moron was born
and came up with that idea. Then you had the
moron that's their boss who was like, do you know what,
that's a good idea, Actually you should actually apply for
that money. That more on too. Then the moron whose
(05:36):
desk that arrived at at MB, where they were like, look, hey,
there's a request for some money to get the kids
to paint the trees. That moron who went, yeah, that's
a great idea. Tick, there's a whole list. And by
the way, it won't be that efficient, Like there will
be at least about four or five people at the
University of Auckland and likely about seven at MB, So
there's at least a dozen morons that we have somehow
(05:57):
managed to breed in this country who are stupid enough
to think that was a good idea. Remarkable, remarkable anyway,
from stupid ideas to great ideas. There is a proposal
to allow pharmacists to hand out more kids medicines without
needing to go to the GP. And I am on
board with this because we need to stop the GPS
being the only gatekeepers when things are really obvious. You
(06:18):
could go in and go look there's a cut, it's infected.
Oh here's some antiboter crem Like I'm not saying GPS
need to but do you know what I mean? Like,
it's obvious you don't always need the GP to do that.
Health New Zealand has come up with this proposal. So
what it's considering is allowing the pharmacists to take a
look at the kid and go, yep, this call. I'm
going to give you some pamil for that, pamels, ibuprofens,
(06:39):
oral rehydration. Common conditions like scabies, headlice, conjunctivitis. Can you
actually believe that you have to go to the GP
and go, yes, look look at that, Yes, that would
be a case of head lice. Could you please give
us something prescription for that? One time? On the conjunctivitis?
One time it was a weekend. And doesn't it suck
when the kids get sick at the weekend? Like that
really ripsy unders a because it sucks all the time
(07:02):
because you love them and you don't want them to
get sick, But at the weekends it really sucks. And
this one weekend, the little one who would have been
I reckon, I reckon less than a year at this stage,
maybe ten months, she came down with pussy eyes. There
is clearly a case of conjunctivinus. Right, so pussy eyes
both eyes, which means it's now it's bacterial. So and
(07:22):
I was, as a Saturday, what do you do? You
can't go to the GP because the gps have weekends,
don't they. So went to the emergency sat in the
not not starship do where I'm not that kind of
a parent, went till one of the white cross ones
or whatever that you have to pay for. So went
and sat there probably three hours, probably four hours on
a Saturday afternoon, just so the GP could go, Oh, yes, yes,
(07:44):
missus duplicy ellen, you are in fact correct, this would
be a case of conjunctividers. Let me give you some
eye drops. Yes, those would be the eye drops. I
went to the pharmacy for in the afternoon and asked
if they could just give them to me. But I
had to go through the wholesh muzzle of three hours
or four hours and waste the doctor's time because they
didn't need to do that. And now, if this proposal
goes through, you don't have to do that. Isn't that brilliant?
Oh and for the adults, also very common uncomplicated UTIs
(08:08):
they'll be able to do with that in emergency birth
control as well as be able to give it to you.
How good is How good is it that the pharmacists
can be adults? For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Now Inland Revenue says taxes need to rise, and it
favors a higher GST rate and a capital gains tax.
The Herald's Wellington business editor Genative Train, he's been looking
into this and is with us now, howgday, Hey heaven.
Have they said how high they want GST to go?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
They haven't said that, But what they have said is
they reckon the tax system needs to be designed in
such a way that it makes it easier for governments
to lift tax rates should governments need more money. So
Inland Revenue and the Treasury have been ringing the alarm
bells over the fact our population is aging. We basically
(00:38):
aren't projected to have enough tax coming in to pay
for all the looming costs around healthcare, suberanuation, that type
of thing. So they say that they assume that in
the future governments will fix this. Governments haven't been fixing it,
but they reckon at some point they will have to
fix it. But they don't know if governments will fix
it by cutting spending or by hiking taxes. So they say,
(01:02):
because we don't know what the future holds, we should
set up the tax system in such a way that
we can hike rates should it be required. So that's
why they haven't said, you know, how much they think
GCT should be increased by. But they do say if
governments do that, they recommend offering a cash transferred to
low income earners because of course, you know, if GST
(01:23):
rate goes up, that really hits low income earners disproportionately hard.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So how would this cash transfer work.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So it could be like a tax rebate or something
like that at different levels. You know, Basically increasing the
GST rate is regressive, so they don't want that, but
they think that if they you know, if we get
to the point we have to increase GEST, they transfer
some money back, then we can also have a capital
(01:56):
gains tax. So that's the other one that they're flagged
now I mean controversial.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, so i ID wants a treasury wants it. The
problem is, of course, the politicians are the gatekeepers and
we're in the cost of living crisis. That ain't going
to happen, is it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, you know that's the thing. The economy is on
shaky ground. We're truly looking at a stagflation environment. Any
politician coming out now to say the hiking taxes is
literally you know, secured an absolute fail at the election.
You know, people will say, well, Labour's keen on the
capital gains tax. That's true, but Labour's capital gains tax
(02:31):
is actually pretty narrow. They only wanted to apply, you know,
to houses sold after they were they they've been bought
after a certain date, you know, So that will really
limit the revenue that would be generated, and you know,
due to the narrowness of it, and then revenue saying
we actually need more tax income and CGT could be
(02:54):
a good option, but it would need to be broader,
you know. So so I guess in Land revenue and
and the Treasury, I'm at looking what they're writing and
it is at a completely different level to what the
politicians are saying. So either our economic stewards are completely
off track or the politicians are completely off track. But
there is no one political party that is saying we're
(03:17):
going to tax you more. We're going to give you
less for that tax because we need to save money
for the future. And that is the message that is
resonating quite strongly from the Treasury and their revenue.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Interesting. Jennay, thanks very much, appreciate it. As always. Jenati Trainy,
the Herald's Wellington Business Editor. It's twenty away from sex
Lord out by an entire hour, twenty away from seven
Try that one on. Do you know what? They can
take a running jump? Can't they? Ird and Treasury can
take a running jump? Because you know what would be
a better idea than raising taxes, hiking up the GST,
(03:50):
hiking up the capital gains sex What would be a
better idea is if we cut spending, like, for example,
the thing we've been talking about on this show, and
last the three hundred thousand dollars given to some project
to watch kids paint pictures text on that evening, Heather,
thanks for trying to get MB and Auckland UNI on
to tell us how our three hundred thousand dollars was
wisely spent. Today I also got to see the photo
(04:10):
of the three by two meters Kumita patch that we
all paid twenty five thousand to twenty five thousand dollars
per square meter for. Maybe the head hon show Nichola
Willis can tell us how this is good use of
taxpayers dollars. Great, quite right, So before they come at
us asking for a little bit more of the old
Goods and Services tax, I go, how many kumra patches
you paid for today?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Mate?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Just out of interest? How many kids did we get
to do the finger painting of the trees? Yeah? Did we?
Did we pay for any of those whales songs that
we needed to play to the trees to see if
it helped the trees? Yeah? How about you start cutting
the wasteful spending on that and then we can talk
about maybe raising taxes. Now, we'll just put that one away,
because that's just made us un just disproportionately angry that
people could be this stupid. I've just you know what,
(04:51):
can I just say? I'm always surprised that this beautiful
country has created enough morons, Like somehow we have managed
to create enough morons to actually, through the whole food chain,
managed to make that payment possible. Don't you think that's
a remarkable thing. Like, first of all, there's the moron
(05:14):
who was like, you know what I want to do.
I want money to watch kids paint pictures of trees
and see if that helps with Cowie die back, I
know that's what I'm that moron. That moron was born
and came up with that idea. Then you had the
moron that's their boss who was like, do you know what,
that's a good idea, Actually you should actually apply for
that money. That more on too. Then the moron whose
(05:36):
desk that arrived at at MB, where they were like, look, hey,
there's a request for some money to get the kids
to paint the trees. That moron who went, yeah, that's
a great idea. Tick, there's a whole list. And by
the way, it won't be that efficient, Like there will
be at least about four or five people at the
University of Auckland and likely about seven at MB, So
there's at least a dozen morons that we have somehow
(05:57):
managed to breed in this country who are stupid enough
to think that was a good idea. Remarkable, remarkable anyway,
from stupid ideas to great ideas. There is a proposal
to allow pharmacists to hand out more kids medicines without
needing to go to the GP. And I am on
board with this because we need to stop the GPS
being the only gatekeepers when things are really obvious. You
(06:18):
could go in and go look there's a cut, it's infected.
Oh here's some antiboter crem Like I'm not saying GPS
need to but do you know what I mean? Like,
it's obvious you don't always need the GP to do that.
Health New Zealand has come up with this proposal. So
what it's considering is allowing the pharmacists to take a
look at the kid and go, yep, this call. I'm
going to give you some pamil for that, pamels, ibuprofens,
(06:39):
oral rehydration. Common conditions like scabies, headlice, conjunctivitis. Can you
actually believe that you have to go to the GP
and go, yes, look look at that, Yes, that would
be a case of head lice. Could you please give
us something prescription for that? One time? On the conjunctivitis?
One time it was a weekend. And doesn't it suck
when the kids get sick at the weekend? Like that
really ripsy unders a because it sucks all the time
(07:02):
because you love them and you don't want them to
get sick, But at the weekends it really sucks. And
this one weekend, the little one who would have been
I reckon, I reckon less than a year at this stage,
maybe ten months, she came down with pussy eyes. There
is clearly a case of conjunctivinus. Right, so pussy eyes
both eyes, which means it's now it's bacterial. So and
(07:22):
I was, as a Saturday, what do you do? You
can't go to the GP because the gps have weekends,
don't they. So went to the emergency sat in the
not not starship do where I'm not that kind of
a parent, went till one of the white cross ones
or whatever that you have to pay for. So went
and sat there probably three hours, probably four hours on
a Saturday afternoon, just so the GP could go, Oh, yes, yes,
(07:44):
missus duplicy ellen, you are in fact correct, this would
be a case of conjunctividers. Let me give you some
eye drops. Yes, those would be the eye drops. I
went to the pharmacy for in the afternoon and asked
if they could just give them to me. But I
had to go through the wholesh muzzle of three hours
or four hours and waste the doctor's time because they
didn't need to do that. And now, if this proposal
goes through, you don't have to do that. Isn't that brilliant?
Oh and for the adults, also very common uncomplicated UTIs
(08:08):
they'll be able to do with that in emergency birth
control as well as be able to give it to you.
How good is How good is it that the pharmacists
can be adults? For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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