Reuters
A New Zealand party that could hold the balance of power after this year’s election wants to bring in a basic income for almost all residents that will be funded by a new land tax, with its leader saying on Thursday that the policy would also curb runaway house prices.
Qiulae Wong, a 38-year-old former sustainable business consultant, only entered politics in November as leader of the decade-old Opportunity party, but has already overseen a dramatic rise in its popularity.
Recent polls have put the party above the 5% threshold required to have its candidates sit in the country’s parliament, and current projections show both the ruling centre-right National and the opposition centre-left Labour would require its lawmakers to form a coalition government after the November 7 poll.
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