Te Pāti Māori wants to impose five new taxes on New Zealanders if in power after the election, including a wealth tax, an international profit transfer tax, and a land banking tax.But it claims the vast majority of New Zealanders will pay less income tax under its plan, including through a tax-free threshold under $30,000.Under the subheading “No GST on Kai”, the party says it would create a new tax credit for those earning under $60,000 “worth up to eight weeks of free kai each year”. It is unclear what the value of eight weeks of food is, how much this would cost, or how it amounts to “No GST on Kai”.Eight weeks is 15% of a year (52 weeks). GST has a 15% rate.There is little detail in general in Te Pāti Māori’s “Kiwi Tax Plan” document, including no fiscal costs of policies, how much revenue may be generated by its new taxes or how some of these taxes will be applied.The plan, launched on Wednesday, contains many elements of the party’s 2023 tax plan, with Te Pāti Māori calling it a “policy for everyone” that would ensure “everyone in Aotearoa has an opportunity to thrive”.“People across Aotearoa are feeling the squeeze. The kai bill is up. Housing costs are up. Power is up. Everything is taking a bigger bite out of the household budget. Our answer is simple: put pūtea back in people’s pockets and give Aotearoa some room to breathe.”The first component is a significant change to the income tax system, including creating a tax-free threshold below $30,000, lowering the threshold at which the 39% tax rate applies from $180,000 to $90,00, and introducing two new tax rates of 42% between $180,000 and $300,000 and 48% above that.The party claims these changes would lead to 97% of New Zealanders paying less tax, with 90% receiving “on average, an additional $4000 per year”.Rawiri Waititi says Te Pāti Māori's tax policy will benefit the vast majority of New Zealanders. Photo / Mark MitchellThe next part of the plan is what the party is calling “No GST on Kai”. The party previously had a policy to remove GST from food, with a member’s bill from co-leader Rawiri Waititi trying to make that change voted down in Parliament in 2024.The new policy included in the tax document has very little information associated with it. It says people earning less than $60,000 would receive an “Income Tax Kai Credit worth up to eight weeks of free kai each year” and that it would benefit 64% of Aotearoa, or three million people.This is the extent of the information in the document, with no detail on the fiscal cost to the Crown, what the party is estimating to be the value of eight weeks of food, or how this interacts with GST. There are then five taxes Te Pāti Māori wants to implement, versions of which the party has previously campaigned on.A wealth tax would be applied to net wealth above $2 million. A rate of 1.5% would apply between $2m and $5m, 2% between $5m and $10m, and 2.5% above that mark.Te Pāti Māori’s document said this wouldn’t affect 97% of New Zealanders and only targeted high-wealth individuals with an average net wealth of $6m each.An international profit transfer tax would be introduced, with a rate of 5% of the value of profits transferred offshore. There is no further information in the party’s policy document.The document also mentions a land banking tax of 33% to “discourage land banking and support the productive use of land”, a vacant house tax of 2% (the party says this will free up the 111,700 empty houses), and a stamp duty of 5% on residential sales excluding first home buyers for homes under $1m. Te Pāti Māori would also return the company tax rate from 28% to 33%.The party also wants to allocate $1 billion to Inland Revenue, the Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Markets Authority and the NZ Financial Intelligence Unit to help address fraud and tax evasion.While Te Pāti Māori is proposing these new taxes, its potential coalition partner Labour has said it will not implement any taxes from other parties.Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.