Labour leader Chris Hipkins says his Wellington Central candidate Ibrahim Omer was wrong to suggest Labour hasn't "given up" on a wealth or capital gains tax.
Hipkins said Labour members will always internally debate issues like taxation, but the party's policy for the election was not to implement either tax.
A video provided to Newshub shows Omer speaking at a recent candidate debate. Newshub has been told he was responding to a question about a wealth and capital gains tax.
"I think there is gonna be a time for that. The Labour Party hasn't given up on that. The leader now, for reasons that I understand, put it aside. But it is part of our discussion," Omer said
Asked about Omer's comments on Tuesday, Hipkins said: "He is wrong there. We are definitely not implementing a wealth tax. I will certainly take that up with him."
He said Omer "probably could have chosen his words more clearly".
Hipkins said Labour's policy for this election was very clear; not to implement a capital gains or wealth tax.
"The Labour Party is a democratic organisation, I am sure internally, there will continue to be debates about issues around taxation, there always have been, there always will be, as there are within the National and every other political party as well. The manifesto we put before the election will stand after the election."
Hipkins announced in July that he wouldn't introduce a wealth or capital gains tax, saying it was "not the time for a big shake-up of our tax system".
"Experimenting with a wealth tax doesn't fit that approach which is why I’m ruling it out. My position on CGT is a continuation of the position the Government has held since 2018."
The right bloc has claimed the Greens and Te Pāti Māori would force Labour into implementing a wealth tax - both the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are proposing a wealth tax as part of their policy platforms.
After Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer last Thursday revealed during Newshub Nation's Powerbrokers debate that a wealth tax was a bottom line, Hipkins still said his party wouldn't introduce one.
"We are not implementing a wealth tax, it's as simple as that," he told reporters.
"Ultimately, if the Māori Party, if any party, wants to force another election then they could do that but we're not going to be voting for something that we said that we won't be."
But he doesn't believe the parties would force another election.
