Labour confirms farms will be hit by CGT
After Chris Hipkins and Barbara Edmonds were unable to answer questions about their $18.8 billion hidden bill today, a senior Labour MP has tonight revealed an extension of the party’s planned Capital Gains Tax, says Simeon Brown.
“After months of Labour claiming their Capital Gains Tax exempts farms, Agriculture Spokesperson Jo Luxton has appeared to confirm that farms with accommodation on them, alongside commercially owned farms will in fact be subject to Labour’s Capital Gains Tax.
“Farms up and down New Zealand are legally required to provide worker accommodation, alongside many remote farms that are not able to operate without providing accommodation.
“For some farms the economic reality of hiring workers means they must provide accommodation as part of that agreement.
“On top of that, many farms are owned through commercial co-operative agreements.
“Jo Luxton has just confirmed that all of those farms will be hit by Labour’s Capital Gains Tax.
“Of course, it’s no surprise that Labour now appears to be widening the pool of assets subject to their Capital Gains Tax. With an $18.8 billion funding gap to fill, Labour will be desperate to find new ways to take more money from hard working New Zealanders.
“Chris Hipkins and Barbara Edmonds need to explain why they have told New Zealanders farms are exempt from their Capital Gains Tax, when that is clearly not the case.
“Kiwis have a clear choice on November 7. It’s either no new taxes with National, or nine new taxes and counting under a Labour-Greens-Te Pati Māori-Opportunity Party coalition.”
Transcript from the Rural Issues Debate:
Heather du Plessis-Allan: “Have you defined what the family farm is yet?”
Jo Luxton: “It is the, it is the farm.”
Heather du Plessis-Allan: “All farms?”
Jo Luxton: “Yes”
Heather du Plessis-Allan: “Every single farm in this country is a family farm?
Jo Luxton: “Well most people live on their farm that they own, yes.”
Heather du Plessis-Allan: “What about farms owned by corporations?”
Jo Luxton: “Um, that’s something that’s still, uh, no, it’s, it’ll be family farms, yeah, family farms.”
Heather du Plessis-Allan: “So if it’s owned by a corporate it’s a family farm?
Jo Luxton: “Well it, they’ll be perhaps a proportion to, um, businesses where they have a on-farm accommodation or business accommodation if you think about dairy for example, they’ll be a proportionate tax that would be paid on the business side of the dairy.”
Notes to editors:
Authorised by S Brown, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
