Winston Peters says the people of New Zealand will have a say on the capital gains tax and not just "selfish egotistical people" with a "vested interest in property".
His comments came as Paula Bennett raised questions about the Tax Working Group recommendations in Parliament this afternoon.
Mr Peters was answering on behalf of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who was not present in the House.
"Does she agree with comments by the Right Honourable Winston Peters that you can't possibly go into an election saying my tax policy will be decided by a committee?" Ms Bennett asked.
Mr Peters then gave an answer which received a warning from Speaker Trevor Mallard.
"On behalf of the Prime Minister, for the second time now, I am not responsible for comments made by members of Parliament before they held a ministerial warrant under my premiership.
"Here's the fine point about a democratic constitutional government, and that is we are going to consult with the people of this country over the next two weeks.
"I tell you what we can trust someone who hasn't got a massive vested interest in property and is not thinking about the country but just their narrow egotistical self," Mr Peters said.
The Speaker then reminded Mr Peters he is answering as the Prime Minister to which Ms Bennett replied "no, no let him go".
1 NEWS’ political editor takes a look at the big headline from the tax working group’s report.
The exchange came as a comprehensive capital gains tax has been recommended by the Tax Working Group, which estimates the $8 billion raised over five years could go towards changing the bottom tax rate and reducing tax on KiwiSaver for low and middle-income earners.
The Prime Minister says she’s ‘not ruling anything in or out,’ including implementing a capital gains tax.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Government won't commit to any tax reform from the Tax Working Group report released today.
"We’re going to give the public a little bit of time, we’re going to take a little bit of time to form some consensus around the Government’s response," she said.
"As you can see in the report there are some areas where everyone agrees, and there are some areas where the group did not, it’s our opportunity as government to go away, take a little bit of time, build some consensus and then come back to the public.
"We are not ruling anything in or out at this stage."
National's Simon Bridges called the recommendations a "declaration of war" against farmers and targets all "hard-working New Zealanders".
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