COMMENT: The Tax Working Group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen is due to produce its interim report this month.
This will consider the issue of whether New Zealand should continue not to tax most capital gains (tax the fruit from the tree, but not any growth in the tree that bears the fruit).
The Labour Party, however, has already indicated its strong commitment to a capital gains tax, following countries such as Australia that has had a capital gains tax since 1985.
It is important that New Zealand gets this right. Unfortunately, Labour has said it intends having any capital gains tax enacted before the next election - late 2020 - to come into effect 1 April 2021.
That means legislation into Parliament in the first half of next year, soon after the Working Group's final report in February.