Auckland (The NZ Today)
The Green Party has released its full fiscal plan, promising an extra $3 billion a year for health while accepting higher government debt and a slower return to surplus.
Co-leader and finance spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick says the party would use a broader tax take — including new taxes on high wealth, large corporations, banks and big tech — to fund greater spending on health, public services and climate policy.
The Greens are forecasting operating allowances of between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion a year, with the government books returning to surplus in 2029/30.
Net core Crown debt would rise to about 44% of GDP by 2030/31 under the plan.
Swarbrick argues that level remains manageable by international standards and says the party is deliberately choosing higher investment rather than trying to reach surplus faster through spending restraint.
The biggest new commitment is health.
The Greens say they would put an additional $3 billion into the health system every year for four years, targeting staffing, primary care, community services and longer-term workforce shortages.
Swarbrick said the money would be used not only to deal with current pressure in hospitals, but also to train, recruit and retain more doctors, nurses, specialists and allied health workers.
On the revenue side, the party says its tax package would eventually raise close to $8 billion a year across several measures.
These include a 2.5% tax on net assets above $10 million, excluding the family home, a capital acquisitions tax on large gifts and inheritances, a higher company tax rate for the biggest corporations, a bank levy, tighter taxation of big technology companies and reversing tax changes benefiting landlords. The Greens have separately proposed a $10,000 tax-free income threshold, which they say would cut income tax for most earners.
The fiscal plan also assumes stronger employment than Treasury’s current forecasts, with the Greens projecting their wider economic programme would create 64,000 more jobs than Treasury’s baseline.
Climate commitments are treated differently from Labour and National’s fiscal plans.
The Greens say any offshore emissions credits New Zealand needs to buy to meet international climate obligations would be funded from unallocated spending. Treasury has previously estimated that liability could run into several billion dollars, depending on how much New Zealand cuts emissions domestically.
Swarbrick says the party’s overall programme would lift GDP by around 1% after four years, although that is the Greens’ own modelling rather than an official Treasury forecast.
The party is also continuing to call for a Parliamentary Budget Office so election policies from all parties can be independently costed on the same basis.
Source: Green Party fiscal plan
