Key: Public rejecting Labour tax plan

David Cunliffe. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A new poll revealing Labour with only 27 per cent support shows the public are rejecting the opposition's new tax policy, Prime Minister John Key says.

The One News Colmar-Brunton had Labour dropping seven points from its 34 per cent support in May.

It was taken from July 9 to 13 - after news of the proposed capital gains tax leaked out, but before the detailed package was announced last week.

Mr Key told TVNZ's Breakfast that a capital gains tax was not needed and National had a plan to return the country to surplus while stimulating economic growth.

"I don't think the economy needs another tax right now and I think the New Zealand public is saying `we don't want another tax right now'."

He disagreed the poll would not have picked up sentiment about the tax given how prominently it featured in media in the week leading up to the announcement.

But Mr Goff said the public should not rely on the results of one poll.

"The poll was taken before the announcement of the tax. Certainly there had been discussion in the media over that period of time," he told Radio New Zealand this morning.

Mr Goff rejected the poor showing was a response to the party's controversial tax, saying at public meetings the policy had been well received once people were aware of the finer details.

"I'm confident Labour will do a lot better than those polls suggest," he told Newstalk ZB.

"A few months before the 1996 election Helen Clark was on 1 per cent."

Until now Labour had sat steady in the early- to mid-30s in the Colmar Brunton poll, although it did slip to 27 per cent in a 3 News poll in March before bouncing back. If the poll were translated into seats in Parliament, Labour would have only 33 - half of the 66 seats National would have.

Labour's finance spokesman, David Cunliffe, also said he did not consider the poll a solid verdict on the tax policy package.

"Polls go up, polls come down. I note this was taken before the announcement and after the Government had a week to try and kick the crap out of [a capital gains tax] before we actually talked about it."

Labour appears to have bled votes to the Green Party - which also supports a capital gains tax - its result increasing from 6 to 10 per cent.

National stayed steady on 53 per cent while Act increased slightly from 2.5 to 3.1 per cent. Despite the ructions with the Mana Party, the Maori Party also saw a high poll result of 3 per cent - up from 1.4 per cent, while Mana was at 0.5 per cent.

Goff was at 9 per cent in the preferred prime minister rankings - still well behind Prime Minister John Key on 54 per cent.

The poll came on the day National counterattacked on Labour's new tax policy - claiming it would add $18.5 billion to net Crown debt over the next 15 years.

Associate finance spokesman Steven Joyce said that under Treasury modelling, Labour's package would raise $21 billion in extra taxes by 2025 but would lose $28.5 billion, which it had not accounted for.

He said Labour had not factored in the extra borrowing that would be required for capital spending if it ditched the state asset sales. Labour had also overestimated the $300 million it expected from a tax-avoidance clampdown and higher interest costs from extra borrowing.

Mr Cunliffe rejected the claims, saying Labour had factored those elements in and had used a more conservative forecast of tax revenue than National.

The TVNZ Colmar Brunton poll of 1000 voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 per cent.

LATEST POLL

* 53 per cent National

* 27 per cent Labour

* 10 per cent Greens

* 3.1 per cent Act

* 3 per cent Maori Party