‘Tax tape’ released, see Damien O’Connor’s response to wealth tax question

The “tax tape” saga has reached its end, with Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor telling the meat industry he’s happy with a recording of that debate being released.

This is about the debate where O’Connor said the Government probably needed more tax, as he was pressed on his views about a wealth tax.

During a Sunday night debate at the Red Meat Sector Conference, O’Connor said the Government was hard-pressed trying to find funds to respond to Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We probably don’t have enough tax in this country,” he told the crowd.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has insisted O’Connor’s comments, which were first reported by Stuff on Tuesday, were taken “out of context”.

Stuff’s response was to ask for the video to be released, so viewers could make up their own mind about what O’Connor was trying to say.

After asking on Monday, Tuesday, and again on Wednesday for the recording to be made public, it was finally released on Thursday. You can watch it at the top of this article.

National Party agriculture spokesperson Todd McClay, who was part of the debate, accused Labour of trying to conceal the recording.

McClay said the debate was filmed and recordings were given to participants.

“However Labour has now demanded it be recalled because of Mr O’Connor’s comments,” he said on Wednesday.

O’Connor’s office responded that night, saying he was “happy” for it to be released. A spokesperson said the debate hosts, the Meat Industry Association (MIA), had promised the debate would not be recorded.

But everyone knew reporters were in the room and it was on the record.

“We’re disappointed that the MIA have back-tracked on that agreement,” the spokesperson said.

As reported earlier, an attendee asked O’Connor about the Green and Te Pāti Māori proposals for wealth taxes.

He started his answer by saying: “There’s talk of these taxes around the world, and I think there’s a concern around the concentration of wealth at the top end.”

He’s then interrupted, but eventually continues: “We probably don’t have enough tax in this country.”

The crowd groans, as O’Connor explains he’s concerned about the cost of recovery after extreme weather events such as Cyclone Gabrielle.

”To rebuild the roads, and the bridges. And actually, those events will continue,” he said.

“If you drive around our roads … We’ve put a bit more into [road] maintenance, but we still actually have to catch up. If we want to continue to run our economy the way we have run it in the past, we are going to have to contribute more.”

On Thursday, Hipkins said he did not think more tax was needed.

“I don’t think that’s a fair summary of what Damien said, he’s been very clear he was not arguing for an increase in taxes or any new taxes. I accept that his answer was somewhat convoluted,” he said.

National leader Christopher Luxon said it was “curious” how long it took for “Damien’s tax tape” to be released.

He said the recording would lead to questions about if Hipkins could keep his promise of not introducing the Green and Māori parties’ policies of wealth taxes.