PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND’S TAX SYSTEM: Five Rules for a Fair Capital Gains Tax January 2019 PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND’S TAX SYSTEM: FIVE RULES FOR A FAIR CAPITAL GAINS TAX JANUARY 2019 1 INTRODUCTION The Tax Working Group is Working Group1 and the 2025 expected to recommend the Taskforce2, the Government is introduction of a capital gains well within its rights to amend, tax in its final report, due to be exclude, or add to any list released soon. of final recommendations from the Working Group if its The Taxpayers’ Union is not recommendations are too opposed to the introduction of a radical, too unpopular, or too far capital gains tax, in theory. The removed from economic reality. Union’s support or opposition to the introduction of a capital There will also be significant gains tax will depend heavily on room at the Select Committee the detail of the tax: how assets stage to amend any capital will be taxed; when they will be gains tax legislation if, once it taxed; at what rate they will be has consulted with the public taxed; and the structure of any and industry, the Government tax exemptions or roll-over relief. finds certain details or provisions in the proposed capital gains If the Government treats the tax regime are unpopular or Working Group process as an unworkable. opportunity to improve, clarify and re-adjust the tax system, Given that, if at any stage reform could be acceptable. the Government decides to abandon an otherwise If instead the Government ideological and aggressive uses the ‘expert-advice’ from capital gains tax, the Taxpayers’ the Working Group as a thin Union could accept reform. ideological veil to excuse the aggressive expansion of taxation Our opposition to aggressive and the state, the Taxpayers’ tax reform is not tribal or based Union will be strongly opposed on ideological distrust of a to reform. centre-left Government: some Fortunately, recommendations provided by the Working Group 1 https://www.victoria.ac.nz/ are not necessarily final. sacl/centres-and-institutes/cagtr/pdf/tax- report-website.pdf As with recommendations 2 https://treasury.govt.nz/ reached by the 2009 Tax publications/information-release/2025- taskforce 2 PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND’S TAX SYSTEM: FIVE RULES FOR A FAIR CAPITAL GAINS TAX JANUARY 2019 of the most important reform to taxed on their real capital the economy in New Zealand’s gains, rather than nominal history occurred under a Labour gains which merely keep up Government between 1984 and with the cost of living. 1990. 3. Revenue Neutrality: Any Our test of the capital revenue from a capital gains gains tax will be based on tax must be used to fund tax five criteria, which for the cuts in other areas so that sake of transparency, we the total tax burden does are publishing prior to the not increase overall. announcement of any details 4. Roll-Over Relief on Death: regarding the Working Group’s When a family member recommendations. passes away and chooses If the Working Group’s to leave their assets to recommended capital gains tax friends or family members, violates any of the Five Rules, the capital gains tax should the Union is likely to will oppose not be levied on the the tax, and will continue to inheritor at this point. oppose the tax if the violations 5. Discounted Rate: Any capital are not remedied when gains tax should apply at a any legislation is put before discounted rate, instead of Parliament or amended at Select at the full personal income Committee stage. tax rate. Our Five Rules for a Fair Capital This report will explain why Gains Tax are: each Rule is necessary for a fair 1. No Valuation Day: Any capital gains tax. capital gains tax regime should exclude a valuation day approach in favour of grandfathering assets into the system upon sale. 2. Indexation for Inflation: Any capital gains tax regime must discount inflationary gains, so taxpayers are just PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND’S TAX SYSTEM: FIVE RULES FOR A FAIR CAPITAL GAINS TAX JANUARY 2019 3 RULE 1: NO VALUATION DAY While this would reduce any revenue from the capital gains tax as assets Any capital are progressively brought into the regime (once they are traded), the gains tax regime cost to asset owners from valuation is too large to justify that approach. In addition, valuations are inherently subjective – something that should should exclude be avoided. a valuation While some assets won’t require independently verifiable valuations (publicly listed stocks have accurate daily prices, for example), all day approach assets subject to the capital gains tax that aren’t regularly traded (rental in favour of properties, commercial properties, privately held businesses, etc.) will. grandfathering THE COST OF VALUATION assets into the OliverShaw1 provide a ‘conservative’ estimate in their reply submission2 to the Tax Working Group of the costs of adopting a V-Day approach, system upon outlined in the table below: sale. Table 1: Conservative Estimates from OliverShaw on costs of ‘Valuation Day’ If the Government and Working Number of $m valuation cost Asset Cost of Val Group want the capital gains tax valuations estimate to apply to all assets from the 600,000 (say Rental Homes $600.00 300 date of introduction (expected 500,000) to be 1 April 2021), assets will 534,000 (say Enterprises $2,000.00 1,000 require a valuation effective at 500,000) that date (hence, ‘V-Day’). This Second homes and ? will force asset owners to pay for holiday homes independent valuations of their Minority share ? assets at a huge total cost. valuations A better alternative would be Lifestyle blocks ? Total cost for the Government to simply $1,300 grandfather assets in. Assets (conservative est.) would only be subject to capital In their submission, they explain: gains tax once they have been traded at least once and therefore have an official ‘traded 1 OliverShaw is comprised of tax experts Mike Shaw and Robin Oliver. Mike Shaw value’, preventing asset owners was a member of the 2009 Government Tax Working Group; Robin Oliver is a member of from being forced to pay for an the current Government’s Tax Working Group. 2 Prepared solely by Mike Shaw, given Robin Oliver’s membership of the Tax independent valuation. Working Group. Available on the Tax Working Group’s website. 4 PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND’S TAX SYSTEM: FIVE RULES FOR A FAIR CAPITAL GAINS TAX JANUARY 2019 “The cost of the initial valuation will be in excess of [$1 billion], possibly well above [$1 billion], possibly [as] high as $2 to $3 billion. … (I have sought advice from valuers regarding their level of fees for residential and commercial property valuations including valuations in provincial New Zealand). This level of costs compared with the revenue that may be collected is unwarranted.” “Adjusting for the above conservative estimates, the total cost on taxpayers of the valuation day option could be $2-3billion.” The submission is correct to label $1.3 billion as too conservative. PROPERTIES LARGER THAN 4,500M² In the Working Group’s first report, they explain that while a household’s principal residence (‘the family home’) would be exempt from capital gains tax, there would be circumstances where an exemption would not apply. PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND’S TAX SYSTEM: FIVE RULES FOR A FAIR CAPITAL GAINS TAX JANUARY 2019 5 For the purposes of calculating number of principal residences their industry, many companies the total cost of valuation, the on land larger than 4,500m², will dispense with whole going- most relevant of these is that if a if the average lifestyle-block is concerns, or purchase whole property is larger than 4,500m², approximately nine-times larger going-concerns from other it would not receive the ‘family than the threshold, there’s likely businesses, in order to maximise home’ exemption. In absence of to be a significant number of shareholder value. - an exemption, these properties homes not classified as lifestyle This happens regularly in the will require independent blocks that still exceed the New Zealand market. valuations, just like every other threshold. asset subject to the tax. In 2017, it was announced that If we assume (based on the Our First NZ Capital would purchase There is a huge number of these Land 2018 figures) that there ANZ’s online trading platform for properties. The Our Land 2018 are approximately 204,000 an undisclosed sum6. report prepared by the Ministry lifestyle blocks around the 3 for the Environment highlights country, these properties Late last year it was announced that as of 2013, there were alone will increase the cost of that Fletcher Building had 175,000 lifestyle blocks covering Valuation Day to asset owners agreed to sell Formica to 873,000 hectares, and that the by approximately $122.5m (if we Broadview Holding BV for number of these properties was conservatively assume the cost $1.226 billion7, after having growing at a rate of 5,800 a of valuing lifestyle blocks with an acquired it in 20078. year, indicating that the number average size of 4ha is the same of these properties may now as valuing an average rental More recently it was announced have exceeded 200,000. property5). However, this figure that Fonterra planned to “[sell] could easily explode. If lifestyle the livestock division of its Farm Perhaps more importantly, blocks are more expensive to Source store and online support the average size of these 9 value (by virtue of being larger, network to Carrfields Livestock.” properties is significantly larger with additional buildings or than the size required for the If a company expects to sell any structures) the total cost will property-owners to lose their of their going-concerns at any grow even higher.