The New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA) is calling for implementation of a capital gains tax in New Zealand to ease the house affordability situation.

The renewed, but not original, call for a capital gains tax comes after the release of the 2009 International Housing Affordability Survey, by the website Demographia. The results of the survey place New Zealand housing as the second most unaffordable in the world. While the website pushes its own agenda and attributes this to housing and land restrictions are to blame, the NZMEA are claiming it is due to taxation issues.

The NZMEA believes that capital gains tax, which in this case would tax any profits attained from the buying and subsequent selling of a home, would encourage investors into productive investments. Subsequently this would lead to more money in productive areas, followed by more jobs, more money and the original goal of lowering houses prices by reducing house purchase as a means of investment.