Luxon pledges 'no new taxes', scrapping bed tax and bank tax National floated a fortnight earlier

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has ruled out a bed tax and a bank tax, promising "no new taxes" if National is re-elected in November 2026. The 23 August pledge reverses revenue options Luxon himself raised publicly two weeks earlier. Auckland mayor Wayne Brown called the bed tax backflip "walking away" from the Auckland Regional Deal signed in April 2025.