Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Green Party says the growth in wealth of New Zealand’s richest is evidence for tax reform, but the Prime Minister and the Act Party say a new ranking of the country’s wealthiest should be celebrated for shining a light on the rewards of success, hard work and innovation.
TheNational Business Review released its Rich List on Monday, an annual ranking of the estimated wealth of New Zealand’s richest people and families.
The list includes people or families whose worth is $100 million or more.
The latest Rich List sees the total valuation of those profiled pushed to $102.1 billion, up from $95.55b a year ago.
The Rich List is based on the most recently available data, meaning the effective cut-off point for inclusion is as close to publication as possible, rather than a fixed date.
A large amount of that increase appears to have come from new people entering the list, rather than just existing rich-listers increasing their wealth. There were about a dozen new entries to the list, worth a collective $4.3b.
Acting Act Party Leader Brooke van Velden celebrated the list. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Their success was not reflected across the economy as a whole, with households going backwards in 2024.
That figure does not account for inflation over the year, meaning the real damage to households is even greater.
Changes in household net worth. Graph / Stats NZ
Household net worth has been on the decline since 2021, largely thanks to the drop in the housing market, which is where a large amount of New Zealanders’ net worth is concentrated.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon celebrated the list.
“Isn’t it fantastic that we have people with ambition and aspiration and positivity and we should be celebrating their success?” Luxon said.
“I know how hard people work in New Zealand and there have to be some pretty aspirational stories behind those stories,” he told RNZ’s Morning Report.
“It’s okay to celebrate success,” Luxon said, adding that he recognised other people were “doing it tough” and the Government was doing “everything we can as a Government to create conditions for growth”.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the list showed it was “time to tax wealth and build a country where all of us can thrive”.
“Poverty and homelessness doesn’t come from nowhere. They are created by inequality. Christopher Luxon has put his foot down on the accelerator. By design, the rich are getting much, much richer while the poor are getting much, much poorer,” Swarbrick said.
The Greens released an alternative Budget earlier this year that included $88b in additional taxes, including a 2.5% tax on net wealth over $2m ($4m for couples) and taxes on inheritance, trusts, companies, private jets, and increases in taxes paid by individuals.
Swarbrick cited research commissioned by the last Labour Government and conducted by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) that showed the wealthiest New Zealanders paid an effective tax rate of 9.4% on their income. Treasury calculated a comparable tax rate for a “middle-wealth” Kiwi was 20.2% (including GST they pay and any benefits some might get).
The IRD research used a measure of “economic income” which has been controversial.
“We already know that the wealthiest households are able to arrange their finances to pay half the effective tax rate of regular New Zealanders. That means, proportionally, teachers, nurses, builders and firefighters pay more of their income to support our country’s infrastructure than the billionaires the Prime Minister has chosen to celebrate today,” Swarbrick said.
Brooke van Velden, the acting Act leader, said New Zealand should “celebrate success rather than demonise achievement”.
“Every person on this list has created value, whether through innovation, investment or leadership. That value flows into jobs, wages, tax revenue and opportunities for others,” van Velden said.
“The Greens think this success deserves to be punished. They claim they’re targeting the rich but even the average registered nurse would be taxed more by the Greens’ alternative Budget.
“I reject the politics of envy. Punishing success through higher taxes and wealth redistribution doesn’t make the country fairer, it makes it poorer. Our Government is focused on growing the economy, not dividing the economy and dividing New Zealanders.”
Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds said the list showed an economy “out of balance”.
“While Kiwis are struggling with rising costs, the wealthiest few are doing better than ever under National,” Edmonds said.
“That tells us something’s out of balance. Instead of cutting women’s pay to help tobacco, gas and big tech companies, New Zealand needs a Government focused on providing well-paying jobs, good healthcare and affordable homes.”
