The Finance Minister says the Government never seriously contemplated a Treasury proposal to tax Auckland landlords on their properties.
Part of a housing development in the Tamaki area in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
The proposal - included in pre-Budget advice released yesterday - was for an annual levy of one percent of the value of investment properties.
Bill English said it would have been difficult to implement and could also have had a negative effect on investment in property development.
"If you undermine the confidence of those who want to build new homes in Auckland, that would be counterproductive because in Auckland we need as many new houses as physically possibly that can be built in the next few years."
Mr English said the Government had instead chosen to improve the regulatory process to make houses cheaper and easier to build.
