Pitched as "real world economic management" for voters weighing up the parties' finances, the Green Party's 2026 fiscal plan sets out how a Green government would tax, spend and borrow over the next four years, with a big increase in health funding at its centre.

📋 Greens: Fiscal plan 2026, October 2026 →

What it does

• Sets operating allowances, the new money available at each Budget, at $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion a year. RNZ reported the coalition's planned allowances are about $2.4 billion, and Interest.co.nz reported Labour would keep the $2.4 billion set at Budget 2026.
• Returns the operating balance to a $0.4 billion surplus in 2029/30, a year later than Treasury's pre-election forecast. The party says the delay comes from running a bigger allowance to lift health funding.
• Draws nearly $29 billion of extra revenue over four years, RNZ reported, from the party's tax package: a wealth tax, a tax on large inheritances and gifts, and higher company tax for big businesses. The same package pays for income tax cuts for most workers.
• Lets net core Crown debt reach 44% of GDP by 2030/31. RNZ reported debt would then be $26.6 billion higher than Treasury expects.
• Sets aside future Budget money to buy overseas carbon credits towards New Zealand's climate targets, a bill Treasury has estimated could reach $5 billion, though the Greens say more emissions cuts at home would reduce it.
• Uses Treasury's 2026 pre-election forecasts, with the consultancy Infometrics reviewing the direct fiscal effects. The party says its policies would support 64,000 extra jobs, and it repeats its call for a Parliamentary Budget Office to cost every party's policies on the same basis.

The debate

• Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said it was irresponsible to chase a surplus without weighing the real-world economic effects, and argued New Zealand's public debt is low by international standards.
• National's campaign chair Simeon Brown said the plan would undo the government's progress over the last three years, and that it had "nine new taxes on the table".
• ACT leader David Seymour said the plan gave voters a choice between financial security and financial ruin.