Tax
Summary
The ad says: "The Greens' taxes don't stop when you do" and claims their inheritance tax would "take 33% from gifts and inheritances over $1 million." The Green Party's published 2026 policy does propose a 33% Capital Acquisitions Tax on the portion of taxable gifts or inheritances above $1 million. However, the ad omits major exemptions, including the family home, family farms, Māori land and certain Treaty-settlement assets, and its wording can imply that 33% applies to the entire inheritance rather than only the amount above the threshold.
The Greens do propose a 33% tax on certain gifts and inheritances above $1 million. But the tax applies only to the taxable amount above that threshold, and family homes, family farms and several other assets are exempt.
Score Breakdown
Factual accuracy
Weight: 40%
Context fairness
Weight: 30%
Evidence quality
Weight: 20%
Visual/audio fairness
Weight: 10%
What the ad gets right
- +The Green Party's 2026 tax policy does propose a 33% tax on inheritance and gifts above a $1 million threshold.
- +The proposed tax would be paid by the recipient of the inheritance or gift, rather than by the estate.
- +The Greens estimate that the policy would affect about 1,100 people a year.
What the ad gets wrong or leaves out
- −The 33% rate applies only to the taxable value above $1 million, not to the full value of an inheritance or gift. The Greens give an example where $1.25 million of taxable shares and bonds results in tax on only $250,000.
- −The ad does not mention that the family home and family farms are exempt from the proposed tax.
- −Māori land under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act and transfers of certain post-settlement governance entity assets would also be exempt.
- −The phrase "would take 33% from gifts and inheritances over $1 million" is ambiguous and can reasonably be read as 33% of the entire gift or inheritance once it exceeds $1 million, which is not how the published policy is structured.
- −The graveyard imagery and the line "taxes don't stop when you do" frame the proposal as a conventional estate or death tax, whereas the Greens describe it as a tax paid by recipients on certain inherited or gifted assets.
Detailed Verdict
The ad is based on a real Green Party proposal and gets the 33% rate and $1 million threshold broadly right. It is misleading because it leaves out significant exemptions and does not make clear that the 33% applies only to the taxable amount above $1 million, not automatically to the whole inheritance.
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