Wealth tax: Labor must adopt bold policies to be interesting to voters again – Shane Te Pou

It’s been a few years since I was inspired
go to one – but I would like to go this year. With the Labor Party at a crossroads, I believe next week’s meeting in Christchurch could be one of the most important since the frantic conferences of the 1980s.

Recent elections around the world have shown that voters want more than just minor changes to the system – they want real change.

The failure of the left to offer this could lead to a sharp decline in relevance and a swing of voters to the far right.

Unless Labor adopts a bold and meaningful policy agenda, it risks going down the same path as Democrats in the United States, where Kamala Harris’ failed campaign failed to provide genuine hope and a clear vision for the future.

Let’s face it: inequality in New Zealand is stark.

While a small, privileged elite (myself included) enjoy ever-increasing wealth, a significant portion of the population is left behind.

This is not just a perception, it is a fact. The richest 10% of households own almost 60% of the country’s assets, while the bottom half barely put together 5%.

Too many people feel like the system is rigged against them. Their wages do not keep up with the cost of living, housing remains unaffordable, and they work more for less money.

INo wonder frustration is growing.

Without policies to address these issues, the Labor Party risks losing its base, as Harris did.

Harris had a chance to inspire people, to give them hope for a better future. Instead, she focused too much on portraying Donald Trump as a ghost, relying on fears of his return rather than offering a bold vision of change.

While Trump succeeded in appealing to struggling middle-class voters with his promise to “make America great again,” Harris offered little in the way of economic hope. Many people in swing states like Pennsylvania, which once had good jobs and a thriving middle class, felt ignored by Democrats.

Result? She lost her center and was unable to activate her base. Many voters simply stayed at home, as Labor Party supporters did at our last election.

Workers should learn a lesson from this. If she continues to experiment around the edges, without addressing the deep inequalities that define New Zealand’s economy, she will face the same fate as the Democrats.

Some argue that Labor should move closer to the center to win over voters. The “third way” might have worked 20 years ago, but not now. We have seen time and time again that when a party offers voters a choice between a softened version of conservatism and the real thing, they choose the latter.

Labour’s best chance of success lies in offering a bold, progressive vision that reflects the struggles of ordinary New Zealanders and offers a credible path to a better future.

Labor needs to make sure people in South and West Auckland know they support them. These voters are looking for real solutions, not just a softer version of neoliberalism.

Labor needs to reconnect with the values ​​that made it a force for change in the first place: fairness, opportunity and solidarity.

One policy that could restore hope and demonstrate the Labor Party’s commitment to fairness is to use a wealth tax to tackle our health crisis.

This is not about punishing success, but rather ensuring that those who have benefited most from the system contribute their fair share to society. A small annual tax on assets over $10 million would only affect the super-rich, leaving ordinary New Zealanders untouched.

Health care and other government services are in crisis, and voters know we need more government spending to improve them.

Countries such as Norway and Switzerland have used wealth taxes to reduce inequality and fund public services without discouraging investment or innovation. New Zealand could do the same.

A wealth tax is not radical – it is pragmatic.

The Labor Party can show that it will solve structural problems in the economy, rather than just cope with them.

Commitment to technocratic, piecemeal policies sends the message that the Labor Party doesn’t understand – or worse, doesn’t care about – the struggles of ordinary people.

A wealth tax could help close the gap between the haves and have-nots and offer tangible benefits to the middle and working classes.

But more than that, it can give people hope—hope that the government is on their side, that the future can be better, and that change is possible.

Without this hope, voters will either turn to the right with promises of tax cuts and dismantling institutions, or stay home altogether.

The 2023 elections should be a wake-up call.

If the party doesn’t act now, it risks repeating the Democrats’ mistakes and alienating the very people it was founded by.

If the Labor Party continues to shy away from bold policies such as a wealth tax, it will lose not only swing voters in the center, but also its core supporters.