OPINION: If the answer is vote Labour, what's the question?
The question when we woke up this morning could well have been, "How do we help burst the housing bubble and make the tax system fairer?"
Answer: vote Labour. Simple.
That's no longer the case.
Labour's 11th-hour policy backdown on introducing any new taxes on capital gains or land in the first term renders the question null and void, given the answer.
That's despite Jacinda Ardern's insistence, as recently as this week, that her decision to ditch Andrew Little's policy of seeking a fresh mandate on tax in 2020 was because the crisis needed action NOW.
She went as far as to suggest that waiting any longer to smash speculators with new taxes would make her culpable for exacerbating the crisis.
By her own definition, that now appears to be a fait accompli.
There's little doubt Labour had to do something about the vagueness of its tax plan, which allowed National to whip up fears of Labour turning you and I into a human ATM, but the decision to do nothing in the first term will leave voters worried about fairer housing and tax asking themselves one simple question.
Why vote Labour?
Ryan Bridge will host RadioLIVE Drive from 3-6pm Thursday afternoon, with full reaction and analysis of the day's campaign developments.
