National has ruled out working with the Opportunity Party, with leader Christopher Luxon saying National would not do business with a party that wants to raise taxes.

Opportunity's leader says New Zealanders are tired of that way of thinking, and suspected Luxon would change his tune if National needed Opportunity come November.

Opportunity was on 4.7 percent in the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll, just shy of the 5 percent needed to enter Parliament.

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Opportunity's [flagship policies](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/642464/explainer-what-is-the-opportunity-party-and-what-are-its-policies) include establishing a universal basic income of up to $370 a week, and a 1.75 percent annual tax on the value or urban land and 0.5 percent on rural land.

At his weekly post-Cabinet media conference, Luxon was asked whether National could work with Opportunity.

"We wouldn't be in business with people who want to increase taxes," Luxon responded.

He added that it was his "very, very strong position" that National would not work with Opportunity.

"It's a vote for Labour and the Greens because essentially, at the moment, and I look at their policies, you've got a universal basic income that wants to make every New Zealander a beneficiary. You've got a land tax sitting there that actually is going to be massive."

Pressed on whether that meant National would not go into a governing arrangement with Opportunity in any form, Luxon said it would not be a surprise that National did not want to "do business" with Opportunity.

Afterwards, Luxon's office confirmed to RNZ this amounted to a formal rule-out.



National rules out working with Opportunity Party