Labour refuses to rule out reversing Govt's ‘tax cuts for landlords’ | Stuff.co.nz

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]The prime minister has described it as a once- ina generation deal that will deliver thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the economy. The free trade agreement between India and New Zealand has now officially been signed, giving exporters access to a market of 1.4 billion people. The deal was only possible because of support from the opposition. But that bipartisanship was short-lived with Labour today not ruling out reversing what it calls the government's tax cuts for landlords.

[00:00:30]Here's political correspondent Zayn Small.

[00:00:33]>> With pen to paper, the free trade agreement between India and New Zealand became official overnight.

[00:00:42]>> Trade Minister Todd Mcclelay traveled to New Delhi to seal the deal with his Indian counterpart Goyal. In this changing world, India and New Zealand have chosen each other.

[00:00:56]>> The agreement eliminates or reduces tariffs on 95% of New Zealand's exports.

[00:01:02]>> This genuinely is a once in a generation deal that will lead to more jobs and higher incomes for Kiwis.

[00:01:08]>> But there's no sweeping liberalization in the deal for milk powder or mass dairy exports.

[00:01:13]>> Never has India opened the dairy sector.

[00:01:17]Everybody in this room knows it. That's partly why National's coalition partner New Zealand First refused to support the deal along with concerns about what the government described as a commitment to promote up to 20 billion US of investment in India over 15 years different to what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described as an investment commitment not a commitment to promote investment. Is the finance minister telling the country that what Modi is saying, what Goyel is saying and what the Indian press are saying and the Indian officials are saying in terms of they're checking the investment pathway in the future that that is not a contractual basis. It's purely aspirational.

[00:02:01]>> The Indian side are using a different turn of phrase to describe that aspiration. Labour ended up saving the day for National and at giving its support to pass the deal in parliament even though Labour shares New Zealand first's concerns about the investment clause. Why did Labour um sign up to it if you still had concerns about that investment clause?

[00:02:23]>> Because we didn't want to block it and New Zealand has had a really good history of bipartisan view around trade agreements. That bipartisanship was short-lived with Labor today not ruling out reversing the government's restoration of interest deductibility for landlords.

[00:02:39]>> So in relation to interested deductibility, we'll make a decision as part of our wider fiscal plan.

[00:02:43]>> Anything they promise they can't pay for it and they have to remember that it's actually the the tenants who end up funding the landlords to pay this tax.

[00:02:52]Interest deductibility refers to a tax rule that allows property investors to deduct mortgage interest from their taxable income. The previous Labor government under Justinda Ardurn put a stop to it in 2021 to curb property speculation and help first home buyers into the market. When the coalition came to power, interest deductibility was restored. A move Labour described as tax cuts for landlords.

[00:03:18]>> I wouldn't be giving tax breaks to landlords and tobacco companies right at the moment. There's more tax coming under Labor.

[00:03:23]>> National and Labor back to bickering over tax after briefly putting differences aside to achieve a free trade deal with the most populous nation in the world.

[00:03:34]>> And Zay's with us now. Cain, the government's also just announced a deal to secure more fuel.

[00:03:42]>> Yeah, that's right, Sam. The government has announced an agreement with Zed Energy to secure an additional 90 million L of diesel which is the equivalent of about 9 days. Now the latest update from officials show this shows there is still sufficient supply of fuel in New Zealand. But the government is describing this as an insurance policy for if the war in the Middle East drags on and fuel supply becomes very scarce. So under this deal, Z Energy will procure, own and manage the diesel, but the government will have the right to control it and release it into the market if and when that should be required. And if that were to happen, the government would pay the difference between how much uh Z Energy paid for the diesel and the cost at the time of release. But that part of the agreement, we don't have a lot of information on.

[00:04:30]It's it's uh commercially sensitive. Uh here's what the finance minister had to say a short time ago.

[00:04:36]If we didn't end up using the diesel because we never get to this terrible rainy day we're all trying to um avoid uh then it would progressively be released into Zed Energy's business as usual stocks at what which point again the commercial terms of the deal have um we've put in place for that >> now Sam the additional diesel will require additional storage capacity so the government is investing 2.121 $1.6 million from the regional infrastructure fund to facilitate the extra space for the diesel at Marsden Point. And we're also told that the government is considering a similar deal for jet fuel.