Hipkins coming apart

“Chris Hipkins' extraordinary admission that he’d never pay his own capital gains tax on his bach because he’d never sell it beggars belief, this bloke is coming apart,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

Appearing on Herald Now with Ryan Bridge this morning, Hipkins said he’d never sell the family bach held in his MP super scheme.

“The ignorance, or is it hypocrisy?... is breathtaking. Hipkins is happy to put a tax on people who can’t hold prime real estate forever, believing he will be too comfortable to face his own tax," says Mr Seymour. 

“Other people find themselves in a variety of positions where they have to sell, and would need to pay Hipkins’ tax. Property is sold when relationships end, people get ill, businesses get short of working capital, or life requires them to move cities.

“It’s great that Hipkins thinks he can avoid these vagaries of life, but he’s either disingenuous or naïve. If he really believes he’ll avoid ever having to sell an asset, he is naïve. If he knows he might like most people, he is being disingenuous.

“Either way, ACT is here to tell the truth. A capital gains tax will hit people hard. It will not change house prices, it hasn’t done that anywhere. It will complicate our tax system and it will ensure assets are double taxed, once on the capital value when bought and sold, again on the income that capital asset produces.

“Perhaps worst of all is the message behind a capital gains tax. If you work hard, save, invest, and start to do ok, the Government will be there to take from you. It amounts to tall poppy syndrome in the tax code.

“It’s policies like this that form the reason why ACT is campaigning to Lock Labour Out, and Unlock New Zealand’s Potential."