ASA partly upholds complaint against 'misleading' National attack ad

The Advertising Standards Authority has partly upheld a complaint against a National Party attack ad, and told the party not to use it again in its current form. The complaint focused around National's criticisms of Labour's capital gains tax (CGT) policy. A complainant told the ASA that in July they had received a flyer promoting Chris Bishop as the National Party candidate for Hutt South, as well as general National Party election campaign material. A section called 'Keeping Taxes Low', the complainant said, had a statement about what was at risk. "Labour's capital gains tax would hit the family bach, rentals, small businesses and KiwiSaver," the flyer said. Labour has maintained KiwiSaver is exempt from its CGT proposal, which is designed to cover commercial property and residential investment property only. The family home (including lifestyle blocks), farms, inheritances, shares, businesses, and other commercial items are also exempt. Small businesses wanting to sell and move into a bigger property would not have to pay the tax, and the vast majority of small businesses lease their buildings so are not subject to the tax. The complainant was concerned it was misleading for National to claim the CGT would hit small businesses and KiwiSaver. National's response to the ASA was that the CGT would affect businesses that owned the premises they operated from (such as salons, dairies, service stations, or corporate offices).

Read the original report: rnz.co.nz →

Published

10 Sep 2026

Languages

English