Govt ponders tax changes

Asked about broad tax relief on National Radio’s ‘Morning Report’ Clark immediately began talking not about tax rates but about changing the regime to one where people are taxed net of savings rather than on their gross.

She did not commit herself to this though, but added that she is “not ruling anything in or out.”

The prime minister’s office would not elaborate on the comments when contacted by Good Returns: instead Clark’s earlier statements about not writing a Budget in front of the media were reiterated.

The prime minister’s unprompted comments on the specific taxation of saving is however a clear indication that the government is revisiting earlier plans to change the present “TTE” regime for taxing savings.