Labour Party veteran and former Revenue Minister David Parker has announced plans to retire from politics, but he says it doesn’t mean a wealth tax is off the table.
Parker was elected to Parliament in 2002 after winning a seat in Otago. Prior to politics, he worked as a lawyer, started a cafe, and later became the inaugural chief executive of the highly successful A2 Milk Corporation.
He was a Cabinet Minister in both Helen Clark’s and Jacinda Ardern’s governments, holding the environment, transport, trade, revenue, and attorney-general portfolios.
It was as Revenue Minister in 2023 that he helped design a wealth tax policy, which was ultimately vetoed by then-Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in the lead-up to Budget 2023.
Parker resigned from the revenue role in protest of that decision but told reporters on Tuesday his retirement from politics was not related to ongoing tax debates.
He said he was happy with the party’s current direction on tax policy and promoting those reforms was one reason he stayed on after the 2023 election.
“It is true that I believe there's unfinished business for the country, and that middle-class people, who earn their income through wages, pay tax on every dollar they earn. But very wealthy people pay tax on less than half of that maybe,” he said.
“I was raised with egalitarian values by my parents. I don't like the extremes of wealth that are occurring in the world. It's worse in America, but it's bad enough here.”
Tax reform would need to be part of the solution to this problem, as the return on large pools of capital, after accounting for tax and inflation, outpaces the economy's growth rate — a trend that, mathematically, would lead to a continued concentration of wealth.
He said Labour was “contemplating serious policy for the next election,” although the final decisions hadn’t been made yet, and he would continue to advocate as a party member.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins also said the internal tax policy debate hadn’t been a factor in Parker's resignation.
“I think it's a matter of record that, over the years, David and I have had a number of discussions, particularly around things like tax, but those have never been personal. We’ve actually had really constructive conversations about those, and so that's nothing to do with this decision at all,” he said.
The party had not reached a final decision on tax, but the policy would be announced later this year.
In a written statement released later, Hipkins thanked Parker for his 23-year contribution to the Labour Party and to Parliament.
“David has achieved an awful lot in his time here. No one’s work in politics is ever finished, and I’m sure he steps away with that same sense. What I know to be true is he made a difference and contributed to a higher quality of life for New Zealanders,” he said.
6 Comments
"...he says it doesn’t mean a wealth tax is off the table."
Well, he would say that wouldn't he.
Well Hipkins not only took the wealth tax off the table, he threw it out the window, followed by Parker’s toys and Parker himself. Talk all they will, but that don’t change history.
Longer term MPs often decide to exit when in their heart, they know the next term is on the opposition benches. Te Pāti Māori and Greens (Communist mandate) have shown their true colors and are increasingly unelectable. Which leaves Labour up a creek with no paddle in a sinking red waka.
very sad to see him go -- one of the few extremely principled MP's left these days -- and someone who I believe fought for a better New Zealand -- I guess he finally realised that his party is only interested in power not principles
Why didn't he just push heavily for with a limited CGT? Wealth tax and land tax can be left to the left-left, not centre left.
Maybe because he understands that a limited CGT will have little effect.
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