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I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. Which parties propose changes to small-business tax and compliance, and what would those mean for a café?
For a café, the biggest differences in the 2026 platforms are less about the headline company-tax rate and more about investment deductions, GST administration, employment compliance, and whether you own the premises. The election is on 7 November 2026. Policies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026 - Policy.nz
The main parties' small-business positions
| Party | Tax / compliance proposal | What it could mean for a café |
|---|---|---|
| National | No new taxes; continue its lower-tax approach. The current government has also introduced/supported simpler tax rules, including simplified FBT treatment for business vehicles. No new taxes under National | National Party | No proposed new business tax to budget for. Existing 20% Investment Boost for new assets remains important: for a new commercial coffee machine, oven or other qualifying equipment, you can deduct 20% of the cost immediately and depreciate the remainder. Claiming depreciation National is also pursuing hospitality-sector regulatory simplification, including food-safety and building/temporary-structure rules. Hospitality industry served regulatory relief | National Party |
| Labour | A small-business package: raise the low-value asset write-off from $1,000 to $10,000 for businesses under $10m revenue; raise compulsory GST registration from $60k to $80k; require large businesses to pay small suppliers within 15 days for invoices under $25k; review provisional-tax and filing requirements. Labour's Small Business Action Plan | Potentially useful if you need to replace equipment. A $9,000 oven, for example, could be fully deducted in the year bought rather than depreciated. The GST change matters mainly to very small cafés approaching the threshold; an established café comfortably above $80k would remain GST-registered. Labour would also create a formal small-business test for new regulations. Labour's Small Business Action Plan |
| ACT | Focuses strongly on cutting red tape and employment compliance. Its package includes a three-year freeze on the adult minimum wage, a training wage for under-20s, shorter personal-grievance time limits, voluntary union-fee payroll deductions, and clearer depreciation treatment for software/digital investment. ACT New Zealand | The wage proposal could materially affect a café with lots of entry-level staff, while the employment-law changes could reduce some compliance/risk costs. ACT also supports simpler FBT rules already being implemented. ACT New Zealand |
| New Zealand First | Proposes cutting the company tax rate from 28% to 20% for companies with turnover below $30m. NZFirst to Campaign on 20% Tax Rate for SMEs - New Zealand First | This is the clearest proposed company-tax reduction. If your café operates through a company and earns $100,000 of taxable profit, the company-tax bill would theoretically fall from $28,000 to $20,000—a $8,000 difference before considering other changes. It would not directly reduce tax on a sole trader's personal business income. |
| Greens | Keep the corporate tax rate at 28% for small and medium enterprises, while raising it to 33% for the largest 0.7% of companies. Their wider tax package targets wealth and large corporations. Greens commit to tax the super-rich and large corporates fairly, cut income tax for 96% - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand | An ordinary café company would not face the proposed 33% corporate rate under the Green policy. The direct company-tax setting would therefore remain 28%. Their manifesto also says they want to champion local small businesses. Greens commit to tax the super-rich and large corporates fairly, cut income tax for 96% - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand |
| Opportunity | Proposes a much broader tax-system redesign rather than a café-specific tax cut. Its package includes a Citizen's Income, Land Value Tax and changes to KiwiSaver, alongside measures intended to support small businesses and R&D. Tax Reset - Opportunity Party | The effects are more indirect. Its small-business proposals include better-funded budgeting services, faster access to R&D tax credits and changes to ACC/payment systems. The broader tax reset could nevertheless affect your household and business depending on your structure and property holdings. Breakthrough Economy - The Opportunity Party |
Two issues particularly relevant to your café
1. Equipment replacement
This is a surprisingly important distinction for a hospitality business.
Under today's rules, a low-value asset costing up to $1,000 can generally be immediately deducted, while new qualifying assets can also receive the 20% Investment Boost introduced in 2025. Claiming depreciation
Labour would instead target small businesses with a $10,000 immediate write-off from July 2027. So if you're thinking about replacing an oven, espresso machine, dishwasher, POS equipment or refrigeration, the timing and cost of the asset could make the competing regimes produce different tax deductions. Labour explicitly uses a café oven as an example. Labour's Small Business Action Plan
National disputes Labour's proposal on this point, arguing that replacing Investment Boost with the targeted write-off would reduce incentives for larger capital purchases such as commercial coffee machines. Labour business policy a $5 billion tax grab | National Party That's a contested political claim, so the practical comparison depends on what you actually plan to buy.
2. GST
The current compulsory GST threshold is $60,000 of taxable turnover, with GST charged at 15%. What GST is
Labour proposes lifting the threshold to $80,000 from 1 July 2028. Businesses below it could still voluntarily register. Labour's Small Business Action Plan
For an established café with several employees, this probably won't change anything because turnover is likely well above the threshold. For a very small café, however, it could mean less GST administration and more room to grow before compulsory registration.
What about your premises?
This could matter if you own the café building, rather than lease it.
Labour proposes a 28% capital-gains tax on gains from commercial and residential investment property realised after 1 July 2027, while explicitly exempting the business itself, business assets and certain owner-occupied/family property. Capital Gains Tax to Level the Playing Field for Businesses, Create Jobs and Fix New Zealand's Health System
Labour says a small business selling its premises to move to a bigger one would not be taxed, but the precise treatment of a particular ownership structure would need professional advice. Capital Gains Tax to Level the Playing Field for Businesses, Create Jobs and Fix New Zealand's Health System
If you rent your café premises, this particular tax is much less directly relevant.
And your break-in?
Tax policy won't necessarily be the biggest election-policy issue here. For a café that has actually experienced a burglary, law-and-order policy and insurance/business-interruption settings may matter at least as much as the tax differences.
National is campaigning on tougher consequences for crime and more policing, while the other parties have their own law-and-order proposals. 2026 Election Policy | National Party I would treat that as a separate comparison from the small-business tax question rather than assuming a particular crime policy will automatically reduce your café's insurance or security costs.
A useful way to compare the platforms for your situation
Rather than asking which party is "best for small business," which would turn this into a political recommendation, you could compare them against your actual cost structure:
- Company or sole trader? NZ First's 20% company-tax proposal matters much more if you're incorporated.
- Annual turnover? Labour's $80k GST threshold is relevant only around that scale.
- Planning to buy $1k–$10k equipment? Labour's proposed immediate write-off is particularly relevant.
- Planning a large equipment purchase? Compare Labour's proposal with the existing Investment Boost regime.
- Number and age of employees? ACT's minimum-wage and training-wage proposals could materially affect payroll costs.
- Renting or owning the premises? Labour's proposed commercial-property CGT becomes much more relevant if you own it.
- How much time goes into compliance? Labour, ACT and National all have deregulation/simplification proposals, but they target different parts of the system. Labour's Small Business Action Plan
One important baseline: the current company income-tax rate is 28%, so NZ First's proposed 20% rate is a proposed reduction, not the current rate. Tax rates for businesses
If you tell me roughly your café's annual turnover, whether you're a company or sole trader, approximate annual profit, number of staff, and whether you rent or own the premises, I can turn these policies into a side-by-side dollar-impact example for your café without telling you how to vote.
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