As readers will be aware, New Zealand faces some severe economic and social challenges. Tax- Labour’s 2019 Tax Working Group pulled together the best tax brains in the country to make recommendations on tax policy. In addition, we need to consider the merits of a low-level land tax, applied at least to unoccupied residential land. New Zealand thus faces a cruel dilemma: The need for policy consensus is urgent given the challenges ahead, but the political framework for that consensus is absent. Until, as a nation, we can reclaim the middle ground New Zealand’s future will remain at risk of a very uncomfortable economic and social adjustment.
