ANALYSIS: It's official. Labour is a scaredy cat.
So paralysed by fear of tax attacks it is unwilling to stick to its morals and address what the Prime Minister has acknowledged is an unfair tax system.
The Government was secretly working on a major tax switch that would have seen most Kiwis get a $20 per week tax cut - paid for by a wealth tax.
Budget policy documents reveal the Government had officials draft up a wealth tax to pay for a tax-free threshold of $10,000. A Robin Hood tax switch.
The wealth tax was to be paid by people who held a net wealth of $5 million. It was to be set at 1.5 percent paid on wealth over that threshold.
It was individualised so couples could have up to $10 million in assets before it kicked in. And it was designed to exclude the sacrosanct Kiwi birthright of a family home.
The Government was considering it right up until about a month before May's Budget - but chickened out. And on Wednesday the Prime Minister, mirroring the Jacinda Ardern pledge, ruled out taxing wealth and capital gains (CGT) forever under his leadership.
"I'm confirming today that under a Government I lead there will be no wealth or capital gains tax after the election. End of story," Hipkins said.
Hipkins confirmed he made the captain's call to can it.
"While work was already underway on a potential wealth tax and CGT as part of a tax switch in the Budget I ultimately made the call not to proceed with it. We simply didn't have a mandate to implement those tax changes."
Newshub polled on a wealth tax in a May Newshub-Reid Research poll - 53.1 percent backed one.
But Labour is running for the hills - afraid of electoral upset, afraid of losing power, afraid of running an election campaign on taxing the wealthy - a bread and butter Labour policy.
Which leaves the question: What is the point of Labour? What do they stand for?
Power is pointless if you do nothing with it. End of story.
Jenna Lynch is Newshub's political editor.
