Today we accepted a petition from Lindsay Calvi-Freeman signed by nearly 15,000 people. The petition calls for the Government to reverse their decision to remove tax deductibility of interest for landlords, National’s Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly and Housing spokesperson Nicola Willis say.

“Labour are misrepresenting interest deductibility by calling it a ‘tax loophole’. They make it seem underhanded and that is not fair to the thousands and thousands of mum and dad landlords who are entitled to deduct their costs from their revenue,” Mr Bayly says.

“This is a fundamental tax principle. New Zealanders should be able to trust that the Government will tax them on their profits. If costs cannot be claimed back, revenue is being taxed.”

“This policy will be bad for tenants and landlords alike,” Ms Willis says.

“Ministers were warned by their officials that the changes to these tax laws could cause increased churn in the rental market, meaning there is a risk ‘that households may need to rely on transitional housing or emergency housing, special needs grants’, and that we could see an increase in ‘the numbers on the public housing register’.

“Perhaps it is time this Government starts listening to the advice of officials and experts as they have proven themselves inept at delivering housing solutions.”

“We thank Lindsay Calvi-Freeman for bringing this petition to us. We wholeheartedly support this call to the Government and will continue to advocate on behalf of mum and dad landlords,” Mr Bayly says.

“The housing market needs rental properties and demonising landlords is unfair and counterproductive. They are selling a service like any small business and to punish them by removing interest deductions is a bizarre singling-out by the Government that does nothing to make house prices more affordable.”