A Snapshot of the 2011 Financial Statements of the New Zealand Government (Part 1)
Where does the Government's money come from?
- Where does the Government's money come from?
18% was from selling goods and services, $15.1b
Most of this revenue (80%) comes from activities of the SOEs, including:
- postal services
- supplying electricity
- airfares
Departments also charge fees for some services to offset their costs, for example:
- issuing passports,
- building levies, and
- immigration fees
19% was from other sources, $15.4b
This included ACC levies of $3.6b, fire service and EQC levies of $0.4b and fines through the court system of $0.2b.
63% was from collection of taxes, $51.1b
Total revenue was $82b in 2011, an increase of $7b from 2010
This was the first increase in both total Crown revenue and tax revenue in three years, largely due to the economy recovering since the global financial crisis.
- Total Revenue
-
Facts and figures
3.3 million New Zealanders paid tax of $23.4b in 2011. This equates to an average of $7,000 in tax per person.
| Income | % of people | pay % of tax |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30,000 | 57 | 14 |
| $30,000 - $70,000 | 31 | 37 |
| Over $70,000 | 12 | 49 |
Note: this data is based on 31 March 2011 forecast.
Your tax dollar - where was it spent?
- Total Crown expenses were $100b in 2011
-
- 67% of core Crown spending was for Welfare, Health and Education
-
Core Crown expenses increased $6.4b from 2010
The biggest movers were:
- Core government services: Earthquake related costs were the main reason and are discussed in more detail below. $2.6b
- Welfare: Inflation, the ageing population and earthquake-related assistance caused benefit costs to increase. $0.8b
- Finance costs: As debt levels rise, so too do finance costs. $0.8b
- Housing: The cost of implementing the repair scheme for leaky homes was recognised this year. $0.6b
- The trend in expenses over the years
-
Your dollar provided...
Social welfare spending of $22.0b
The largest single area of welfare spending was for New Zealand Superannuation, with the Government spending $8.8b providing 561,000 superannuitants with income support.
The Government also spent $4.7b on benefit payments to 343,000 people receiving the unemployment, sickness, invalids, and domestic purposes benefits.
- Social welfare spending
Education expenses of $11.7b
As of March 2011, there were approximately 211,000 enrolments in over 5,100 early childhood education services, employing 19,800 teachers and there were approximately 764,000 students in 2,481 schools, employing 52,000 teachers.
The Government spent around $2.3b subsidising education at tertiary institutions. This funding allowed over 650,000 students to enrol in higher education institutions or participate in industry training.
- Education expenses
Health spending of $13.8b
Funding provided to the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) totalled just over $11b this year, an increase of 4% from 2010.
This funding allowed for approximately 48,000 nurses and 14,000 doctors to provide healthcare across the country and DHBs to report a record total of 145,000 elective surgical discharges this year.
- Health spending
Core government services worth $5.6b
The largest expense was related to the earthquake, totalling $1.4b. This is not the total cost of the earthquake as some costs were for welfare assistance. A full breakdown of all earthquake costs so far is provided below.
Also included in this category was $0.5b of official development assistance payments, half of which were to Pacific Island nations.
- Core government services
