Heather du Plessis-Allan: Luxon is being treated unfairly

I’m loathe to keep talking about this, but I think Chris Luxon is being treated really unfairly on the sale of his apartment. 

And because he’s being treated so unfairly, it’s hard to avoid saying something. 

The latest instalment on this is a series of articles pointing out that Chris Luxon would’ve paid up to $70 thousand in tax on the sale of his apartment if it wasn’t for his government changing the bright-line test rules. 

He bought the apartment in 2020 when the bright-line test was five years and because he sold it within five years, it should’ve been subject to the 5 year bright-line test and he should’ve paid a capital gains tax on it. 

But his government cut the bright-line test back to 2 years, effective July this year, so he didn’t have to pay the tax. 

The implication being that either by design or luck, he managed to dodge a tax he should've paid. 

Honestly, give me a break. 

The only reason Luxon is selling the apartment is because we’ve pressured him into moving into Premier House. 

He didn’t want to move there, that was obvious, and why would he? The place is famously cold and drafty, and given that this guy’s been earning mega bucks for at least a couple of decades, he probably hasn’t lived in a house as cold as a student flat for a couple of decades. 

But we gave him grief for not living there and taking the accommodation allowance instead, so he caved and said he’d move into Premier House. 

And now that he’s doing that, we’re not happy either because he’s making money off his apartment. 

Come on. What do we want here? 

He isn’t costing the taxpayer on the accommodation allowance any more, he didn’t change the bright-line test so he could avoid tax – that was an election promise made last year when he clearly still intended to keep owning his property. 

The absence of fairness in this ongoing drama suggest that this is exactly what he says this is, which is politics of envy. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Look, I'll be honest with you. I'm kind of loath
to keep talking about this, but I think Chris Luxen
is being treated really unfairly on the sale of his apartment,
and because he's been treated so unfairly, it's kind of
hard to avoid saying something about this. The latest installment
on this, you will see this in the morning papers today,
is a series of stories now pointing out that Chris
Luxen would have paid up to seventy thousand dollars in
tax on the sale of his apartment if it wasn't

(00:23):
for his government changing the bright line test rules. So
he bought the apartment in twenty twenty. The bright line
test back then was five years, and because he has
sold it within the five years, it should have been
subject to the five year brightline test and he should
have paid a capital gains tax on it of seventy
thousand dollars. But his government cut the bright line test

(00:43):
back to two years effect of July this year, so
he didn't have to pay any tax. The implication of
that being that, either by design or by luck, he
has managed to dodge at tax that he actually should
have paid. Give me a break, I mean, the only
reason cast your mind back. The only reason that Luxon
is selling that apartment because we pressured him into moving

(01:04):
into Premier House. He didn't want to move into Premier House.
That was obvious, and why should he him? And the
place is famously cold and drafty, And given that this
guy has been earning megabucks for at least a couple
of decades, he probably hasn't lived in a house as
cold as a student flat for a couple of decades.
Why would he want to start now when he's the
prime minister of the country. But we gave him grief,
didn't we for not living there and for taking the

(01:26):
accommodation allowance to live in his apartment instead. And so
finally in February this year he caved and said, fine, okay,
I'll move into Premier House. But now that he's moved
into Premier House, we're not happy about that either, because
now we can see he's making money off his apartment.
Come on, what is it that we actually want here?
He now isn't costing the taxpayer on the accommodation allowance anymore.

(01:46):
He clearly did not change the bright line test so
he could avoid tax. That was an election promise made
last year when he already, if you remember, was still
intending to keep owning his property. So what has he
done wrong? The absence of fairness in the ongoing media
reporting on this suggests to me that this is exactly
what he thinks this is, which is the politics of envy.

(02:07):
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