"Discussions of tax burdens should not be allowed to distract attention from the elephant in the room – an abundance of ill-justified spending."

"An IRD report on effective rates of tax attracted much public attention last week.
    "It was launched by the Minister of Revenue, David Parker.
    "In proposing that high income people are not taxed enough, Parker asserted in the report’s foreword that: 'New Zealand is not a highly taxed nation.'
    "This claim is false....
    "On the Heritage Foundation’s database for 2022, only 31 of 178 countries gathered more in taxes relative to gross domestic product than New Zealand’s 32.3 percent. The ratio for the median country was only 18.5%....
    "The minister argued that it was unfair if the very wealthy did not pay at least as high a proportion of their economic income in tax as everyone else. His example defined economic income to include all unrealised capital gains....
    "Discussions of tax burdens should not be allowed to distract attention from the elephant in the room – an abundance of ill-justified spending.
    "Big government is no guarantee of prosperity, literacy, a well-run health system or quality public infrastructure. Sadly, these days New Zealand exhibits this point."

~ Bryce Wilkinson form his op-ed 'When Debating Tax, Don't Forget Spending Quality.' The late Kerry Packer made a similar point some years ago to an similarly envy-ridden Australian tax enquiry ...