Sandy Lau: PWC tax partner on ANZ's Chief Executive voicing support for a Capital Gains Tax

A PWC tax partner says discussions around a Capital Gains Tax will continue, as the country grapples with raising enough revenue.

ANZ head Antonia Watson has told RNZ the time has come for a Capital Gains Tax.

Sandy Lau says it'll likely be in the mix of options officials consider in long-term planning for New Zealand's tax system.

"I don't think having a Capital Gains Tax is going to be the silver bullet, so to speak, that will fix all the problems - but it may be one of the few things that needs to be done to make sure that the tax system continues to be successful in the future."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Capital gains tax is back in the news. A and
Z CEO Antonia Watson says that she supports one. If
someone had the courage to do it, I wouldn't be
jumping out of bed with joy, But in terms of
the overall fairness, it's probably a fair way to tax
another part of income in this economy. Antonia was not
available to speak with us about it. Am Z told
us this is her personal opinion, not the bank's opinion.

(00:21):
PwC tax partner Sandy Low joins us now on this, say, Sandy.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good afternoon, why would a.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Bank CEO endorse the CGT.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Look. I think around cavill gaines tax has been around
for quite a while, and over the last few years,
in particular the last couple of elections, there's been a
much more discussion around it, and I guess if we
look ahead at New Zealand in general, including some of
the key factors like our changing demographics, and thinking about

(00:53):
the level of tax that we're collecting, it's one of
the topics. The more more because as the country needs
to grapple with making sure we are connect collecting enough
tax to meet the extended our expended to needs. In
the most efficient manner. So that's why lots more people

(01:14):
are thinking and talking about it. Is it?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I mean, look, the thing is sandy in terms of
our actual tax revenue, right, it's not going to bring
that much. Is less than what like, it's less than
half of one percent. It's really hard to comply with.
It's really hard to collect. Is this just a case
of people wanting to get on the right side of
history on this one?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I think in terms of thinking about the overall tax system,
and I think it's actually one of the questions that
in a revenue is going to be thinking about as
part of their long term insights. Brief thing which is
actually thinking about this? Does New Zealand's tax system from
a structural perspective? Is it going to meet this future needs?
And I think that's the piece around it. And I

(01:56):
don't think having a capital gains tax that's going to
be the Silla bullets are to stake and they will
fix all the problems, but it may be one of
the few things that needs to be done to make
sure that our tax system continues to be fit for
the future as we go ahead to go along for
a long time, let's.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Say Sandy for the purposes of this exercise. You are
the Finance minister and you're so popular that you do
anything you want. Would you introduce the CGT.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Look, I think there's a bunch of different options that
are put on the tip, that could be put on
the table, and I think it's ultimately always going to
be a balancing act, right And I think one of
the things that we have seen is in particular in
the last government, was around that discussion of something alternative
to a capital against tax, which was discussion around wealth taxes.
So I guess the key thing is looking at it,

(02:48):
and ultimately we have taxes is to make sure that
we generate enough the government can can link enough revenue
in the most efficient manner. So it's thinking about is
this the best way to collect the amount of cash
that the government needs And if Keple's gains text might
be one of the ones that's in the mixt, I

(03:09):
think about.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Okay, Sandy, Thank you very much, Sandy Loo PwC text partner.
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