Over the weekend, National unveiled its latest desperate effort to try and gain some attention: campaigning hard against a wealth tax. Its a Green Party policy, so its a funny thing for national to campaign against (alternatively, I guess it shows who their true opponents are). But even funnier is Labour's response, with Jacinda Ardern saying that it would not even be discussed in coalition negotiations. Yes, the "worker's party" is ruling out even having a conversation on taxing the unearned wealth of the ultra-rich. Obviously, that's not how MMP works - as James Shaw has pointed out, the Greens expect to negotiate in good faith, and that will include discussing taxing wealth. But if we take this seriously, Ardern is effectively saying that Labour would rather not be in government, or would rather not have Green support for its policies and would instead prefer to negotiate everything on a case-by-case basis (with all the delay that entails), than even talk about taxing wealth. Which seems like a pretty funny thing for a "Labour" party to want to die in a ditch over.
Meanwhile, the message is clear: Labour is only going to enact this policy if they are forced to by a strong Green Party. So if you want a wealth tax, vote Green.
