Introduction
The purpose of this statement is to provide additional transparency around policy-motivated 'expenditures' made through the tax system. Tax expenditures take the form of an exemption, allowance, preferential tax rate, deferral or offset that reduce a tax obligation to achieve a specific policy objective.
This is the third successive release of tax expenditure data; 2010 was the first time New Zealand released tax expenditure data since 1984. This voluntary disclosure fills an obvious weakness in our current transparency arrangements by bringing New Zealand's financial reporting closer to OECD best practice standards. As with other disclosures, additional tax expenditure transparency is not intended to be a statement of policy effectiveness or desirability.
