Land tax plan worries Maori Party

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples. Photo / Steven McNicholl.

Maori will be particularly hard hit by any new land tax, says Maori Party co- leader Pita Sharples.

Sharples said he is "concerned" at the Tax Working Group's recommendation to introduce a 0.5 per cent land tax.

He said a land tax would particularly affect Maori, and this was not mentioned anywhere in the report.

"Maori land is not generally seen as a commercial asset, and the reason is culture," Sharples said.

"We're bound not to sell it and we pass it onto our mokopuna."

Sharples said he had no idea of how much Maori land would be worth below $50,000 per-hectare - the threshold below which land may not be taxed.

"It's a different equation - we can't even value it like that - it has got to got down to the next generation."

He said there was only one valuation system for land in New Zealand, and this situation needed changing.

Sharples said the rates paid for Maori land varied from one area to another.

"The ratings system is OK, there are ways around the ratings system," he said.

Douglas Birt, corporate affairs manager for the Gisborne District Council, said Maori land was treated the same as any other land in his council's jurisdiction.

"[All land] has a title and that's the rating unit. We just send the bill out based on the value of the land," said Birt.

But he said it was often very difficult to find the right person to send the bill to.

Maori land - which usually has multiple owners - was very hard to sell as a 75 per cent sale agreement would be difficult to achieve, Birt said.

He said the Valuer-General recognised this problem, and often allowed the land to be devalued by a "certain amount".

"The valuation of Maori land is done by our valuers and it might have a 20 per cent reduction in its value because of [the multiple ownership] problem," Birt said.

A spokeswoman for the Far North District Council said Maori land was also devalued because of multiple ownership.

The maximum deduction, because of Maori ownership, was less than 8 per cent in the Far North, she said.

Sharples said the Maori party would definitely be having discussions around the issue of the land tax.

"In terms of tribal assets and all Maori-owned land it is an issue."