NBR Rich List reignites wealth tax debate as Act’s Karen Chhour squares off against Chlöe Swarbrick

The wealth tax debate has been reignited the same week the National Business Review released its annual Rich List, a celebration of New Zealand’s wealthiest.

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick and Act Minister Karen Chhour were on Herald NOW this morning to discuss taxing the rich.

Swarbrick said it was a matter of creating “systematic fairness”.

To address persistent rates of child poverty and the “half a million New Zealanders” who need access to food banks every week, we needed to make “sensible decisions to invest to end those issues”.

“That requires a fair tax system. This is about understanding that poverty and homelessness doesn’t come from nowhere - it is directly created by tolerance of mass inequality,” Swarbrick told Herald NOW host Ryan Bridge.

“These billionaires are currently in quite comfortable positions and should be contributing to their society that they have made that wealth from.”

Chhour argued we need to start celebrating success.

“[We need to teach] people to strive for success and not to feel ashamed of it,” Chhour said.

“To sit there and envy people for being successful, I think is what’s wrong with this country at the moment.”

Chhour said successful people, like those on the Rich List, create jobs and opportunities for those who want to be doing better in their life.

“We don’t need to be slicing the pie up smaller, we need to be growing the pie… encouraging success, not dragging those down that are successful,” Chhour said.

Swarbrick responded: “It doesn’t play out in reality. We’ve had 40-plus years of this. It doesn’t matter how big an economy is what matters is how we share”.

The Green Party, which announced its alternative Budget in May, has promised a radical overhaul of New Zealand’s tax system, raising $88.8 billion in new revenue and taking the size of the state to more than $200b a year.

The big income raiser in the plan is the wealth tax, which would raise $72.4b over the four years.

The wealth tax would be a 2.5% tax on net assets, such as property and shares, over an individual threshold of $2m (or $4m for couples).

Zuru founders Nick and Mat Mowbray retained their spot as the richest New Zealanders, as revealed in NBR’s Rich List.

The Mowbrays, who founded the toy manufacturing company in 2003, along with sister Anna, have an estimated net worth of $20b.

Former perennial richest New Zealander Graeme Hart, who has built a packaging empire, was second with an estimated net worth of $12.1b.

Other notable Kiwis to feature on the Rich List were filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh, who are fifth richest with a net worth of $2.6b.

The 2025 Rich List profiled 119 Kiwi individuals and families with a total valuation of $102.1b, up from $95.55b last year.

“The country’s Rich Listers together employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars of economic activity,” said NBR Rich List editor Hamish McNicol.

“The Rich List celebrates those individuals and families, telling in-depth stories of how they have built their enterprises, how they are tackling global economic volatility, and what they are investing back into their communities.”