Labour leader Chris Hipkins has denied he has a credibility issue after his U-turn on several taxes over the weekend.
Labour's newly reconfirmed leader on Tuesday indicated the party could propose capital gains or wealth taxes at the next election after ruling them out for the campaign just gone.
Hipkins said during the campaign that capital gains or wealth taxes would not be introduced under his watch, citing the current economic climate. That's despite his fellow left bloc parties campaigning on such taxes, which they said were aimed at helping reduce widening income inequality.
The outgoing Prime Minister told reporters Labour was "starting effectively with a blank page" after last month's election loss.
Labour's policy platform for the 2026 election could be "very different" to the promises it ran on in 2023, he said.
"We lost so; therefore, we start again and that means everything comes back onto the table, and that includes a discussion around tax.
"And in 2026, our tax policy could look quite different to our 2023 tax policy. I said... 'Any change to our tax approach would only be after a mandate of sorts.' We clearly lost so, now, everything's back on the table again. "
Speaking with AM on Wednesday Hipkins denied the change in tack over tax creates a credibility issue for him or his party.
"What I said was we need to now take stock of the fact we lost the election. We need to come back in 2026 with a refreshed lineup and a refreshed policy platform and that's exactly what we will do and that means we start again."
He said a lot changes in three years and they need to refresh their policies to those changes.
"So things that we campaigned on, clearly we weren't elected based on those policies so we will start again and that means looking again at things that weren't part of our promise for 2023 and it also means things that were part of our 2023 promises might not be in 2026.
"The world will be very different from now in three years, the country will be different three years from now so we will need to have a refreshed policy as we head into that election."
When questioned by co-host Ryan Bridge whether his change in tune could be seen as a credibility issue, Hipkins said his comments on tax were for the previous election only.
"That was of course on the basis that we would win the election and we didn't. If you go back and look at what I said at the time, what I said was, 'My approach as leader has always been to commit for three-year election cycles'. I've never been in the never, never, never camp and I don't intend to start being in that.
"But I have been very clear on tax that when we make a commitment at the election, which we did at the last election, if we are elected we will stick to it until the next election. So we didn't win this election so now we have to go back and say, 'What's our election for 2026?'"
In July Hipkins ruled out a wealth tax if Labour was re-elected in the election.
"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," he said at the time.
