Editorial: Why shouldn't you pay tax, the rest of us do?

Finance Minister Grant Robertson during his press conference about the Tax Working Group report. Photo / File

So I shared a taxi with a colleague recently and we spoke about his acquaintance who owned more than 60 residential properties.

Sixty.

It's not uncommon to know people who own houses other than their family home. We have become a nation of landlords. And tenants.

The widening gap between the haves and the have-nots is not down to overseas investors gobbling up our real estate.

It is, and always has been, the mum and dad investors lured to investment in residential housing and eye-watering tax-free returns.

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The honeymoon, finally, thankfully, hopefully, may soon be over.

The Tax Working Group has recommended the Government introduce a capital gains tax on, among other things, profit on investment house sales.

Half the country is now crying like children who've had their candy fix taken away by mum.

The other half, the tenants and the ones who can't get on the property ladder because the investment frenzy has driven house prices too high to afford, wait. They wait to see if the Government has the gumption to turn those recommendations into reality.

Will it cost Labour votes? Most likely. Would it be a politically savvy thing to do? Nope. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely.

When David Lange stood up to the US and said "shove your nukes" it cost this country – militarily, economically – but we were proud. Because it was the right thing to do.

Likening a Capital Gains Tax to NZ's anti-nuclear stance may be stretching things, but the principle's the same. It's been a long time between innings since a Government put right before political expediency.

Does Jacinda Ardern have the nerve?

This could be her Lange moment. A chance to show true leadership and correct an economic imbalance that threatens to tear our society apart.

It's no fun living in a tent, or in a three-bedroom rental with 15 others, so that others can afford lattes and luxury cruises.

If you don't like the idea of a Capital Gains Tax, go put your money into a business start-up and help create this country some wealth, instead of sucking us dry and profiting off the misfortune of those who have not had the breaks you have had.

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Capital Gains Tax calculator: What would you pay?
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