Greens unveil plans for new top tax rate

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei at today's launch. Photo / Brendan Manning

The Green Party's policy of raising the top tax rate to generate close to $1 billion to tackle child poverty was not about penalising the rich but sharing the benefits more fairly, the party's co-leader said today.

If in Government the Greens would create a new top tax rate of 40 per cent for those earning above $140,000, co-leader Metiria Turei announced at the party's campaign launch in Auckland this afternoon.

The new top tax rate would impact only three per cent of all taxpayers, but the revenue raised would make "the world of difference to the hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty", she said. The tax threshold was set at $140,000 so MPs' salaries were captured.

"Our tax system is the key to solving poverty and reducing inequality. Our top rate of income tax is the seventh-lowest in the OECD", she said.

"Even at 40 per cent, we'll still have one of the lowest top tax rates in the OECD."

The Greens would also harmonise the trust tax rate with the top income tax rate, and introduce measures to make it harder for people to avoid paying their fair share of tax -- generating close to $1b a year, she said.

The revenue generated would be invested in:

* A new Children's Credit that would give an extra $60 a week to families currently missing out -- at a cost of $400 million a year.

* A non-discriminatory Parental Tax Credit of $220 a week in the first weeks of life for the poorest children -- costing $29.4m a year.

* A $500m per year investment in children's health and education to reduce the harm caused by poverty.

New Zealand children growing up in poverty were three times more likely to be admitted to hospital, five times more likely to die of cot death, and 27 times more likely to get rheumatic fever, and die earlier than those who are better off, Mrs Turei said.

"Child poverty can be eliminated. We have the tools and techniques. It is now, simply a matter of choice."

"I want to be clear. The Green Party has no bone to pick with wealth -- the problem in New Zealand is not that some people earn more money, it's that the benefits need to be shared more fairly," Mrs Turei said.

The campaign launch was also attended by Booker prize winter Eleanor Catton and Phoenix Foundation singer Samuel Flynn Scott who urged voters to give their party vote to the Greens.

Catton said she was lucky to have grown up with a family who loved the outdoors and believed that mining in national parks and deep-sea oil drilling were disasters waiting to happen.

"I want my children and my children's children to be proud of the steps I took on their behalf to protect this country and what matters about it.

"That's why I'm giving my party vote to the Greens."

National's associate finance spokesman Steven Joyce said more taxes would result in a slower economy and fewer jobs. "Keeping with the plan is the best way of helping people."