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27 September 2024
David Farrar
[FYI request #28386 email] Dear David
Thank you for your email on 13 September 2024 to Inland Revenue requesting the following
information:
I am working on a research project that aims to show the total tax paid, transfers and
subsidies for 26 different household types. Ideally I would like the GST estimates to be as
refined as possible.
I know IRD can't of course trace GST paid by individuals, but I recall there has been work
in the past for Tax Working Groups that has provided estimates.
What I am after is any information or papers that can help with the following:
1. Proportion of after tax income that goes on GST for the average (mean or median) New
Zealander
2. Proportion of after tax income that goes on GST for different income levels, deciles,
quintiles etc
3. Any known differences in GST paid by sex, age, ethnicity, employment status]
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
As you noted, Inland Revenue does not collect information on the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
paid by individuals. Therefore, we do not hold data which could be broken down into the specific
categories requested in
parts one, two and
three of your request. As a result, your request is
refused under section 18(e) of the OIA as the information requested does not exist.
Past research in this space has generally been carried out using survey data held by Statistics
New Zealand (Stats NZ) to infer the GST payable. You may be interested in related information
released by the Tax Working Group at
https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/index.html.
In particular, a paper prepared in March 2018 for consideration by the Tax Working Group offered
insights into the distribution of tax burdens across income deciles, including income tax, GST,
and transfers. While it does not specify the exact proportion of after-tax income dedicated to
GST for the average New Zealander, or delve into GST payments specifically by sex or
employment states, it includes references to demographic breakdowns of wealth by ethnicity
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25OIA1321
and age. The document is available at
https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2018-
09/twg-bg-distributional-analysis.pdf.
Additionally, Inland Revenue has published a report in April 2023 which examines GST relative
to expenditure and income across household income deciles. The report can be found on Inland
Revenue’s website at
High-Wealth Individuals Research Project Report - April 2023 (ird.govt.nz).
This report also provides links to earlier work carried out at Victoria University of Wellington in
2015:
Thomas, A. (2015). The Distributional Effects of Consumption Taxes in New Zealand.
Working Papers in Public Finance. Working Paper 08/2015. This document can
be found at
http://hdl.handle.net/10063/4668
Inland Revenue has consulted with Stats NZ to determine whether the information you are
requesting is instead held by that agency which would allow for a transfer of your request.
However, Stats NZ has advised that they too do not collect data on GST paid by individuals.
They have suggested you may be interested though, in household expenditure statistics
published
on
the
Stats
NZ
website
at
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-
releases/household-expenditure-statistics-year-ended-june-2023/.
Inland Revenue has also consulted with The Treasury as we noted that they have published
analytical papers about the effects of taxes on household incomes, including those paid on
consumption. For example, a paper titled “
Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes
and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 (AN 24/01)”, can be found online at
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/an/an-24-01. You may want to consider approaching
The Treasury directly if you think that they might hold other information of interest to you.
Right of review If you disagree with my decision on your OIA request, you can ask an Inland Revenue review
officer to review my decision. To ask for an internal review, please email the Commissioner of
Inland Revenue at:
[email address].
Alternatively, under section 28(3) of the OIA, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
investigate and review my decision. You can contact the office of the Ombudsman by email at:
[email address].
If you choose to have an internal review, you can still ask the Ombudsman for a review.
Publishing of OIA response We intend to publish our response to your request on Inland Revenue’s website
(ird.govt.nz) as
this information may be of interest to other members of the public. This letter, with your personal
details removed, may be published in its entirety. Publishing responses increases the availability
of information to the public and is consistent with the OIA's purpose of enabling more effective
participation in the making and administration of laws and policies and promoting the
accountability of officials.
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Yours sincerely
Sandra Watson
Policy Lead, Forecasting and Analysis
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