English: Not looking at further property taxes

The government is not looking at further taxes aimed at the property market, says Finance Minister Bill English.

A report last weekend suggested the government is mulling over further tax moves aimed at reaping more tax revenue from property investors but that isn't so, English told Net Prophet.

"We're not looking at anything specifically aimed at property," he said.

More general comments from him about the need for ongoing tax reform had been wrongly interpreted as being aimed at property, he said.

In a more general sense, English - and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne - this week signalled the government is not finished with tax reform.

The government's broader economic policy is concerned with correcting long standing external imbalances, Mr English says, and that is "very much a savings and investment story".

That in turn implies there could be further moves on tax but English would not be specific about what those might be.

Dunne, meanwhile, told a gathering at a launch of a book on tax reform that the government is not finished in that area.

The government is not trying for a "big bang" approach to reform in the recent Budget or any future Budget, he said, but evolutionary changes that are "easier to digest and more politically sustainable."

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