Audrey Young: Jacinda Ardern moves swiftly to deny National more tax attacks

When it comes to tax, Labour's new leader Jacinda Ardern has been relentlessly uncertain.

But very transparent in her uncertainty. She has not answered a question about a possible capital gains tax without emphasising how transparent she is being about not being able to give definitive answers.

She is honestly saying she doesn't know if there would be a capital gains tax under a Labour Government, how much it would be, whether it would apply to small businesses, farms, and artwork, second properties, or whether there would be one at all.

"People deserve to know our direction of travel," is how Ardern understated it to the Business New Zealand election conference.

Perhaps realising that that version of transparency was wearing a little thin, Ardern seized upon the statutory pre-election opening of the books (Prefu) to give a definitive answer about introducing a new top tax rate. No, she said within three hours of the books being opened.

That was more like the Jacinda who was elected on August 1, a more decisive, no flannel, no smarm sort of leader.

Labour went into the last election proposing to introduce a new top tax rate of 36c on income over $150,000.

Ardern could have been forgiven for taking several days to consider the top tax rate but she moved fast to deny National several more days of "will-she-won't-she" over tax.

In fact there was only a very remote chance of Labour increasing the top rate, in the unlikely event of unforeseen deterioration in the books.

To the contrary, the books have given the next Government, whoever it is, an extra $2.1 billion surplus in the current year, and not much change to the surplus forecasts over the following four years.

Labour had and has plenty of flexibility to differentiate its spending plans from National's: from the bonus surplus, from its planned cancellation of National's tax cuts amounting to $2 billion over four years, from loosening the debt track target, and from rejigging the operating allowance of $17 billion over four years.

They have plenty to play with. Now for more plans.