‘Who knows?’: Willie Jackson opens door to smaller land tax deal with Opportunity

Summarised by Centrist

Senior Labour MP Willie Jackson has signalled Labour would negotiate with Opportunity after the election, refusing to rule out accepting a reduced land tax to secure its support. His comments contrast with Chris Hipkins’ declaration that there was “no way” Labour would support Opportunity’s tax package.

Appearing on Ryan Bridge TODAY, Jackson said Labour would treat Opportunity respectfully and discuss its policies rather than dismissing the party.

“We’re not obviously going to go along with the number they’re talking about in terms of land tax,” he said.

Asked what rate Labour could accept instead of 1.75%, including whether it could “stomach” 1.5%, Jackson replied: “Who knows? Who knows?”

Jackson later denied being open to any particular policy. But when Bridge suggested Labour might accept a 0.5% land tax to change the government, Jackson did not rule it out.

“The priority is getting rid of this dirty, filthy, rotten group of mongrels who are the government,” he said. “They’ve got ideas. They’re new, and we’ll talk with them.”

Editor’s note: Opportunity’s full policy proposes a 1.75% tax on urban land and 0.5% on rural land, although its transition plan would initially introduce the urban tax at 0.5%.

The latest Talbot Mills poll puts Opportunity on 5%. On those numbers, Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori would need Opportunity’s projected six seats to form a government.

Jackson has not committed Labour to a land tax. But unlike Hipkins’ categorical rejection, he presented its size as negotiable and made clear that removing National was the overriding priority.

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