New Zealand Tax Burden, Tax Mix and Expenditure Trends in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The total tax burden and the tax mix have very important revenue (including compliance), efficiency and equity consequences. The total tax burden is defined as total tax revenue divided by GDP, while the tax mix is composed of personal taxes, indirect taxes, corporate taxes and other taxes relative to GDP. Both the total tax burden and the tax mix are constantly changing across time for policy, structural and cyclical reasons. These long and short-term trends need to be understood thoroughly before the health of the tax system is analysed in order to provide an appropriate perspective.