Government Moves To Repeal Tax Principles Reporting Act

The New Zealand Government is pushing to repeal the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023, a law passed by the previous administration that requires Inland Revenue to report annually on tax measures against a set of tax principles.

Revenue Minister Simon Watts said the repeal bill was being introduced and progressed under urgency because the Act requires Inland Revenue to report under the Act by 31 December unless it is repealed prior. He said the bureaucracy entailed by the Act was unnecessary and that it was important to focus taxpayer resources on higher priority measures to address the cost of living and get the government’s books back in order.

James Ross, Policy Adviser for the Taxpayers’ Union, said David Parker’s Tax Principles Reporting Act was nothing but an attempt to shut down democratic debate about what our tax system should look like. He said the act was poorly designed and that the idea of legally defining Labour Party opinions as objective fact and handing the power to dictate tax policy to an unelected and unaccountable commissioner should never have been allowed to stand in a modern democracy.

Ross said Parker claimed that his 7 ‘tax principles’ were universally agreed upon, but given the degree of backlash, it's clear these actually amounted to little more than the personal preferences of one man with very little idea of what effective legislation looks like. He said the act was an attempt to shut down debate and that the government was right to repeal it.

Watts said repealing the act ensures IRD’s resources are focused on collecting tax and contributing to the delivery of the Government’s income tax reduction plans.