Election attack slogans, like taxes, are inevitable but have they ever been more misleading? – Editorial
While we may hope voters take election slogans and attack ads with a grain of salt, it is undeniable National’s “no new taxes” line has begun to hover over public discourse.
Depending on your persuasion, it is either a canny prodding of a Labour vulnerability or a reflection of National’s lack of policy vision and cynical devotion to a negative campaign.
It dominated National’s campaign launch on Sunday. “No new taxes” was emblazoned on a large screen above campaign chairman Simeon Brown as he spoke, recited by supporters and littered through the speeches.
What follows that slogan is that Labour is the party of “nine new taxes”, which lumps together the tax policies of the left-bloc minor parties, including the Opportunity Party.
But there is a large dose of hypocrisy in the two major parties attacking each other for the policies of their nominal minor coalition partners.
As Helen Clark pointed out, the chances of a policy such as the Opportunity Party’s land tax being introduced by a Labour-led Government next term are zilch. The former Prime Minister described it as “fantasy posing as policy”.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has also dismissed all the taxes collected within this foreboding “nine”, other than his party’s restrained capital gains tax.
But while this line of attack is the defining theme of National’s campaign, its leader Christopher Luxon has no qualms lambasting the policies of his inevitable coalition partners, if National returns to Government.
On Monday, the PM attacked New Zealand First’s policy pledge to buy back the Bank of New Zealand as “absolute madness”.
“That’s just not going to happen,” Luxon said.
Earlier this month, Hipkins mirrored National’s tax scare campaign by lumping them in with Act and NZ First’s promises to exit the Paris Agreement.
“The National Party and their mates want to pull us out of the Paris Agreement. They want to abolish the Climate Commission. They want to wind back all action on climate change,” he said.
Yet Luxon has insisted that staying in the agreement is non-negotiable for his party.
Such duplicity is nothing new in an election campaign. It’s a given that much of what is said, either aspirational or accusatory, never becomes government policy. But such loose political attacks by left-right-bloc associations have perhaps reached new heights in 2026.
Added to this we have Te Pāti Māori gaming for overhang seats by abandoning their list vote. NZ First leader Winston Peters also this week laid into Sir John Key’s plea for “two ticks” National as “terribly erroneous” voting advice.
The unfortunate consequence is the public are likely more confused than ever about what their vote actually means for Government policy next term.