Editing Economy of New Zealand (section)

=== Taxation ===
{{Main|Taxation in New Zealand}}
At the national level the [[Inland Revenue Department (New Zealand)|Inland Revenue Department]] (IRD) collects tax in New Zealand on behalf of the [[New Zealand Government]]. New Zealanders pay national taxes on personal and [[business]] income, and on the supply of [[goods and services]] ([[Goods and Services Tax (New Zealand)|GST]]). There is no [[capital-gains tax]], although certain "gains" such as profits on the sale of patent rights are deemed to be income. Income tax does apply to property transactions in certain circumstances, particularly speculation. [[Territorial authorities of New Zealand|Local authorities]] manage and collect local property taxes ([[rates (tax)|rates]]). Some goods and services carry a specific tax, referred to as an [[Excise| excise or a duty]] such as alcohol excise or gaming duty. These are collected by a range of government agencies such as the [[New Zealand Customs Service]]. There is no social security (payroll) tax or land tax in New Zealand.

The [[2010 New Zealand budget]] announced cuts to personal tax-rates, with the top personal tax-rate reduced from 38% to 33%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/publications/2010-sr-budget2010-special-report/personal-tax-cuts|title=Personal tax cuts|publisher=IRD|date=1 October 2010|access-date=9 March 2015|archive-date=29 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129111923/https://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/publications/2010-sr-budget2010-special-report/personal-tax-cuts|url-status=dead}}</ref> The cuts gave New Zealand the second-lowest personal tax burden in the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]]. Only Mexico's citizens retained a higher percentage-wise "take home" proportion of their salaries.<ref>{{cite news|title= NZ earners' tax burden second-lowest in OECD|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10644470|access-date= 18 June 2011|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|date=12 May 2010|first=Michael|last=Dickison}}</ref>

The cuts in income tax were estimated to reduce revenue by $2.46 billion.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/fact-sheet-personal-tax-cuts|title=Fact sheet – Personal tax cuts|author=Bill English |publisher=The Beehive|date=20 May 2010|access-date=9 March 2015|author-link=Bill English}}</ref> To compensate, the National government raised GST from 12.5% to 15%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ird.govt.nz/technical-tax/legislation/2010/2010-27/leg-2010-27-gst-rate-increase/|title=GST rate increase|publisher=IRD|access-date=11 October 2014|archive-date=24 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190124235237/https://www.ird.govt.nz/technical-tax/legislation/2010/2010-27/leg-2010-27-gst-rate-increase/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Treasury figures show that top income-earners in New Zealand pay between 6% and 8% of their income on GST. Those at the bottom end, earning less than $356 a week, spend between 11% and 14% on GST. Based on these figures, ''[[The New Zealand Herald]]'' predicted that putting GST up to 15% would increase living costs for the poor more than twice as much as for the rich.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10623168|title= GST rise will hurt poor the most|date=30 January 2010|access-date=9 March 2015|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|last1= Collins|first1= Simon Collins}}</ref>