Jacinda Ardern
In mid-August 2017, Ardern said that a Labour government would create a tax working group to look for the chance of increasing taxes for the wealthy and lowering them for middle-class working families. This idea became unpopular and Ardern said that her tax plan would not be pushed in a first term of Labour government. Minister of Finance Steven Joyce found that the Labour Party had problems in its $11.7 billion budget.