Special Report: Why fixing our broken tax system is so hard but must be done

Bernard Hickey delivers a special report on how New Zealand's tax system was unbalanced and then broken by politicians tweaking rules, leaving it full of holes and ripe for avoidance.

The current government's reluctance to truly reform the system is likely to push the Inland Revenue Department further down the route of trying to fix these holes through the courts and legal precedent. This leaves an unfair, imbalanced and inefficient tax system that will handicap our economy.

Meanwhile, tax lawyers, accountants and lobbyists will employ thousands to continue both hunting for loopholes and trying to close them. We need less activism through the courts and more sensible lawmaking.

The problem is it is politically easier to ignore the problem and hope a beefed up IRD can use the courts to do the work some real reform would do much quicker, much more comprehensively and with much more certainty.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• IRD
• Special Report
• New Zealand tax system