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CAMPAIGN JOURNAL: It was the “Day to Stop the Wealth Tax”.
This is how Judith Collins described her Sunday on social media, as a day of action against the “Labor-Green” wealth tax.
The problem is that Finance Minister Grant Robertson already celebrated his own Stop the Wealth Tax day more than a month ago, when he ruled out implementing one if Labor were in government.
It has since reaffirmed that stance, while the Green MPs have moved away from describing its proposed wealth tax as a “bottom line” for potential coalition talks, preferring the term “top priority”, which clearly allows the party to back away from politics.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
Judith Collins stops by to take a selfie in Takapuna on Sunday.
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Collins was grinning widely as she approached the cameras to criticize the estate tax, introducing the media to a second cousin she had met for the first time that day.
The estate tax hadn’t gone up much on his morning visit to a Smales farmer’s market in deep blue Takapuna, even though median home prices here hit $ 1.3 million.
Collins wandered the stalls and bought honey, hot sauce, a croissant, and a mug with his face on.
STUFF
Jacinda Ardern rejects the national suggestion that Labor introduce the Greens wealth tax, despite ruling it out, as “malicious and wrong.”
She stopped to take selfies with eager fans and chatted with vendors about her products, many of them professing their admiration for her.
A young man who ran a bakery stall said he was a big fan, but it somewhat undermined Collins’s image of the crumbling economy as he bragged about how well his business was doing.
There was no planned speech or campaign rally where Collins could protest against the wealth tax.
Instead, he used a speakerphone in New Lynn among a crowd of supporters holding signs for drivers at a busy intersection.
“Do we want a wealth tax?” he asked the blue shirt volunteers.
Ryan Anderson / Stuff
Judith Collins as part of a “human hoarding” in Auckland.
“Not!” they yelled in unison.
“What does a wealth tax mean?” he asked, almost silently, with a supporter ringing out “war.”
“Labor and Greens,” he replied.
Collins’ wealth tax messages focus on retirees, who would be hit the hardest by estate tax, as seniors are much more likely to own mortgage-free property without having large cash income. .
It is estimated that only 6 percent of the country would be affected by this tax, because it is individualized, instead of being charged at the family level.
RYAN ANDERSON / Stuff
Judith Collins holds a mug to her face.
While many people own property worth more than $ 1 million, and some of them have paid off their mortgage, not many people have done so without a spouse.
Those who possess that kind of wealth alone may well have a deceased spouse.
Collins insisted to the media that this discussion of the wealth tax was not academic, because the Labor Party would simply break their word not to implement the tax to retain power.
“I do not think so. I think that in a negotiating room they will do exactly what the Greens want them to do, they will do anything to enter the government, “said Collins.
The media was not very receptive to this argument, rejecting Collins during the press conference.
Collins was unable to point to a policy that Labor had promised not implement what it had, rather than point to a gasoline tax that it actually campaigned to introduce.
Richard Harman, editor of Political and a political journalist since Collins’ touchstone, Robert Muldoon, was in power, challenged Collins in particular, saying he was accusing Ardern of lying.
“I’m saying this: in a negotiating room, as we saw with NZ First, Labor will buckle down to get what they need,” Collins responded.
Ardern responded when asked about the matter in Wellington on Sunday, saying Collins was making one last “misinformation dice roll” and was wrong.
The problem for Collins is that he is much more likely to need another party to form a government than Ardern.
In the last election, Labor would need the Greens to rule, but a slightly different result would provide a full majority for the party. There is no realistic path for National to rule without the ACT Party, unless the polls are incredibly wrong.
This potential coalition means that Collins herself has ruled out the implementation of various ACT policies, such as big cuts to public services or a flatter tax system, to keep downtown voters from freaking out.
Yet like Ardern, she is asking voters to trust her.
It all comes down to whether voters back Ardern by ruling out something or Collins by ruling out something.
Of course, the media is just one way to get your message across to the voters.
National is also running a serious social media campaign against the estate tax, while the right-wing lobbyist The Taxpayers’ Union is running a personalized direct mail campaign.
National on Sunday had to remove and replace some of those ads, after being wrong about how much a couple would pay for estate tax.
But it might as well work with voters, even if journalists remain skeptical.
