Christopher Luxon says no U-turn on superannuation age 'for now'

Christopher Luxon visited Queenstown for National's caucus retreat. Photo / George Heard

Christopher Luxon said National will stick with its policy of raising the age of superannuation eligibility "for now", but he wants a chance to read a new report that mentions superannuation to work out whether a policy change is needed.

He would not give a position on whether New Zealand's corporate tax rate is too high.

A report from the OECD on the New Zealand economy warned that the rising cost of superannuation will become unsustainable, sparking renewed discussion over whether the superannuation age would change.

The cost of superannuation is expected to be $16 billion this year - more than the first wage subsidy - and it is expected to rise dramatically in the next five years, hitting $21b in 2024.

The report recommended raising the age of superannuation eligibility, currently 65, and it also recommended lowering the corporate tax rate, currently 28 per cent.

Luxon has previously said all National policies he inherited, like repealing the 39 per cent income tax rate and raising the age of superannuation eligibility, would be reviewed over the summer. National has had a policy of increasing the super age since Bill English took one to the 2017 election.

At National's caucus retreat in Queenstown, finance spokesman Simon Bridges gave mixed signals about whether the superannuation age policy might change.

"You know what our position has been in the past, in the end I think those are matters for the leader," Bridges said.

"You know what our position has been - I don't think it's for me to be drawn on that I think, they're matters for Chris Luxon," he said.

Asked whether he'd discussed changing the policy with Luxon, Bridges said they "discuss all of these things".

"I'm not going to get into announcing a policy today," he said.

He added New Zealand could not "keep kicking cans down the road" - a reference to the rising cost of super.

Luxon confirmed that the party's policy remained slowly raising the age of eligibility to 67 - the party's election policy was to begin hiking the age of eligibility in 2037.

However, he left room for himself to change the policy in the future, saying it was the policy "at this point" and that he could "consider change to [it]".

When asked if it was currently the party's policy for the 2023 election, Luxon responded, "yes - at this point".

Asked to clarify whether "at this point", meant the policy could change in future, Luxon responded, "what I would say to you is I want a chance to read the OECD report".

The OECD report, however, backs raising the super age, so reading it would be unlikely to prompt a change in the policy.

Luxon repeated that currently, "there's been no change to our policy from what Bill English put in place, which was a slow progression to 67.

"That's the policy that we have at the moment - I want to read the report and consider whether there's a change to that," he said.

Luxon did not have an opinion on another recommendation of the OECD report, which was to cut New Zealand's corporate tax rate, currently set at 28 per cent.

"I haven't had a chance to read the report, let me read that," Luxon said.

Corporate tax brought in $15.7b in revenue last financial year, compared with $45.8b in tax from individuals.