Tax expenditure statement

2013 Tax Expenditure Statement

Formats and related files
Table of Contents

Table of contents

  • Introduction
  • Changes from Previous Statements
  • What Is a Tax Expenditure?
  • Current Tax Expenditures
  • Tax Expenditures Categorisation
  • Tax Expenditures Included in the Income Tax Act 2007
  • Approved Appropriated Spending Made through the Tax System

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 fourth 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.