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If your main concern is “what actually lands in my bank account when my hours vary?”, the biggest differences in the 2026 tax proposals are between parties that change personal income-tax rates and those that largely leave PAYE alone.

The current individual income-tax brackets are 10.5% to $15,600, 17.5% to $53,500, 30% to $78,100, 33% to $180,000 and 39% above that. About tax codes

What the main plans mean for a modest wage

Approximate annual PAYE, before ACC, KiwiSaver and student-loan deductions, looks like this:

Annual gross income	Current PAYE	Green plan	Te Pāti Māori plan	National / ACT / NZ First*
$30,000	$4,080	$2,750	$0	~$4,080
$40,000	$5,830	$4,500	$1,500	~$5,830
$50,000	$7,580	$7,050	$3,000	~$7,580
$60,000	$10,143	~$9,600	$4,500	~$10,143

*This is about personal income tax: National has pledged no new taxes; ACT has also adopted a no-new-taxes position, and NZ First's announced tax measure is principally a cut in company tax for qualifying SMEs rather than a PAYE change. No new taxes under National | National Party

There are some important qualifications to the table.

Green Party

The Greens propose a $10,000 tax-free threshold, followed by rates of 10%, 17.5%, 25.5%, 30.5%, 33.5%, and 45% on income over $160,000. A tax system for all of us - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

For someone earning around $30,000–$50,000, that means roughly:

• $30k: $25.60 more per week before ACC/other deductions
• $40k: $25.60 more per week
• $50k: $10.20 more per week

So the benefit is meaningful at the lower end but diminishes as income rises because the existing lower-rate brackets are replaced by different rates.

The Greens would finance this alongside substantially higher taxes on very high wealth, large corporations and some property/investment income. Those taxes don't directly come out of your PAYE wage. Greens commit to tax the super-rich and large corporates fairly, cut income tax for 96% - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Te Pāti Māori

This is a much larger personal-tax change. Its proposal is:

• first $30,000 tax-free
• 15% from $30k–$60k
• 33% from $60k–$90k
• 39% from $90k–$180k
• higher rates above that. Tax Tips: 2026 General Election - Tax Policy Update

That makes the difference particularly noticeable for a worker whose income fluctuates around $30k–$60k. At $40,000, for example, the proposed PAYE saving is roughly $4,330 a year, or $83 a week, before ACC and other deductions.

Te Pāti Māori also proposes substantial new taxes on wealth and companies to fund its broader programme. Election tax policies, part three

Labour

Labour's major tax change is not a PAYE tax cut. It proposes a 28% capital-gains tax on profits from residential investment and commercial property, while exempting the family home, farms, KiwiSaver, shares and other specified assets. It says the revenue would fund healthcare. Capital Gains Tax to Level the Playing Field for Businesses, Create Jobs and Fix New Zealand's Health System

So if you're primarily a wage earner and don't own an investment property, your PAYE take-home pay would not directly change under that proposal.

Labour's wider 2026 programme does include measures that could affect household expenses—for example, free prescriptions and three free GP visits—but those aren't increases in your payslip. Labour's 2026 Election Policies

National and ACT

For your particular question, these are comparatively straightforward: neither is proposing a new personal income-tax reduction for 2026 beyond the tax settings already in place.

National has explicitly pledged “no new taxes” if re-elected. No new taxes under National | National Party ACT has likewise campaigned on no new taxes. ACT New Zealand

That means your PAYE would broadly remain under the existing brackets.

NZ First's current tax policy similarly doesn't announce a new personal-income-tax cut; its prominent tax proposal is reducing the company-tax rate for SMEs with turnover below $30m to 20%. Our Policy - NZ First

One particularly relevant issue for you: fluctuating hours

There's an important distinction between tax rate and cash-flow security.

If your roster drops from, say, 40 hours to 25 hours, your income tax should fall because less of your income is being earned. But your rent doesn't fall with it. A tax cut therefore gives you more take-home pay at a given income level, but it doesn't provide protection against a bad rostered week.

Also, PAYE can look confusing when income varies. Inland Revenue says secondary income is taxed using a rate based on estimated total annual income, while your ultimate liability is determined by your actual income. About tax codes

So, for someone in your situation, I'd separate the policies into three questions:

1. PAYE: How much extra/less reaches your account for a normal week?
2. Income volatility: Does the policy give you support when your hours suddenly fall?
3. Household costs: Does it reduce things such as healthcare, transport, power or food costs rather than changing PAYE?

On PAYE alone, the clearest proposed increases in take-home pay for modest-income workers are the Greens' $10,000 tax-free threshold and, more substantially, Te Pāti Māori's $30,000 threshold. National, ACT, NZ First and Labour don't currently offer a comparable reduction in ordinary wage-earner income tax. The Opportunity Party has a much more radical proposal involving a $19,400 tax-free Citizen's Income alongside a completely different income-tax structure, so it isn't really comparable to an ordinary tax cut. Tax Tips: 2026 General Election - Tax Policy Update

If you tell me roughly your hourly wage and the number of hours you typically work in a low, normal and good week (for example, $28/hour and 20/30/40 hours), I can turn this into a weekly take-home-pay comparison for each party, which is probably more useful for your situation than annual salaries.