Calculator: How the Green Party’s tax policy would impact you
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
ANALYSIS: The Green Party announced a package of tax reforms on Sunday which would tax large asset owners more while giving a tax cut to most earners.
The reforms include a wealth tax, an inheritance tax, an income tax switch and reversions of changes the Government made to both the Bright Line Test and interest deductions for property investors.
Working out exactly how this bevy of changes might impact you is complex, so much like with National’s KiwiSaver changes, The Post has designed a calculator for you to check your income and assets.
Scroll to to the bottom of this article for the calculator.
Ahead of the calculator The Post has put together some illustrative examples of how these changes would impact various groups.
A full-time minimum wage earner
Let’s first take a look at a minimum-wage earner with no assets.
A full-time minimum wage earner will make just a touch under $50,000 a year and will currently pay $7626 in income tax on those earnings. (For the sake of simplicity, we’re assuming this earner is not eligible for the Independent Earner Tax Credit, which would take about $500 off that tax bill).
The first $10,000 of that income would be tax free under the Greens’ plan, leading to this worker’s tax bill falling by $623 a year ‒ or about $12 a week. That gain would be larger if the $10,000 was tax-free and nothing else changed, but the Greens are also creating a new tax bracket of 25.5% for income between $40,000-$59,999.
Currently up to $53,500 would be taxed at the lower rate of 17.5%, while income between $53,501 and $78,000 would be taxed at 30%. This sounds complicated, but it basically means that the lowest earners get the most from the $10,000 free threshold, although everyone gets a tax cut who makes less than $161,479. You can see below how the gains shift around on the income spectrum.
About 1.1 million Kiwis make under $50,000 a year according to IRD, although many of them will be part-time earners.
Speaking of.
A part-time minimum wage earner
Let’s take a look at someone making just $37,500 a year ‒ probably a minimum wage part-time worker.
They current pay $5471 in income tax a year. With the new tax free threshold for the first $10,000 then just the existing 17.5% for the rest of that income, they get the full benefit of the tax cut ‒ which comes out $1408 a year ‒ or $27 a week. According to Inland Revenue figures, around 915,000 people make less than $37,000 ‒ although many of these will be students and the like.
A median wage earner
Let’s look now at someone making $72,000, roughly the median wage. That means about half of people working make less than this and half make more.
They currently pay $13,821 a year in income tax. Under the Greens’ plan the first $10,000 would be tax free ‒ but more of their income would get netted into those slightly higher bands.
But they would still get a tax cut ‒ $561 per year, or about $11 a week.
A high earner
Let’s turn now to someone making $200,000 a year.
While they too would get their first $10,000 tax-free, it is more than made up for by those higher rates both in the middle and the new tax rate of 45% for income over $160,000. (That compares to a current top tax rate of 39% for income over $180,000.)
This worker currently pays just under $57,078 in income tax a year. Under the Greens’ plan that would go up to around $60,500 ‒ a $3422 hike, or around $66 a week.
According to IR about 76,000 people make more than $200,000 a year. If we track it back to that $160,000 mark around 153,000 people make more than that, so would be hit by the new tax rate - although those just over $160,000 would still pay slightly less overall.
A retired landlord
All of these examples thus far have been income earners, but the Green Party’s tax policy also includes a wealth tax, a return of the ban on interest deductibility, and an inheritance tax.
The wealth tax and inheritance tax exempts the family home, and the wealth tax doesn’t kick in until an individual has assets outside of the family home of more than $10,000,000 individually or $20,000,000 as a couple.
But the interest deductibility changes hit all property investors who currently write off interest. So let’s take a retired landlord with a single investment property, pulling in around $55,000 in personal income but also writing off tax on the $20,000 interest bill on their investment property.
The income tax cut gives them a bit of money, but this is more than wiped out by the interest changes, which are worth about $3688 a year. All up they are worse off by $3292 a year.
There’s a chance their offspring could be hit by an inheritance tax if they gifted the property, but only if the investment property was worth more than $1m, and then only on the amount over $1m. So if it was worth $1.2m they would be taxed 33% on that extra $200,000 ‒ $66,000. A family home gifted would be both exempt and would not count towards the the threshold.
Have a go with the calculator yourself below. If part of it is not loading, refreshing the page should fix this.