Interim TWG Report – to be or not to be????
Towards the week end, the much awaited, and arguably much anticipated, interim report of the Tax Working Group was released.
While the TWG were considering a number of areas of taxation within the scope of their terms of reference, clearly of interest to most, was going to be their interim thoughts/recommendations, on whether NZ should introduce a capital gains tax (CGT) regime. The interim conclusion – “there is still much work to do”.
So in summary, the TWG is yet to provide a firm recommendation with respect to any extension to the taxing of capital income, instead acknowledging that they are presently working through (in substantial detail) the policy choices involved in the design of any such potential extension. In this regard, the TWG is considering two main options – existing tax net extension (taxing gains on assets not already taxed) and a deemed return type taxation (aka risk free rate of return taxing mechanism).
One decision confirmed by the TWG however, is that there will be no recommendation to introduce any sort of wealth or land tax.
Other interim conclusions/recommendations by the TWG were:
- Identification of opportunities to make retirement savings fairer and encourage low/middle-income earners to save more, however, with an interlinkage with the treatment of capital income, further consideration of final recommendations still required.
- Still an open question as to whether housing affordability will be affected materially by any sort of CGT introduction, the real causation actually a simple supply versus demand issue.
- There is significant scope within the tax system to increase its role in sustaining and enhancing NZ’s natural capital.
- Taxation as a corrective tool (change of human behaviour) is just one potential policy response to dealing with public health issues such as alcohol, tobacco and sugar use. However the TWG does see a need to simplify the existing schedule of alcohol excise rates, and expressed concern over the distributional impact of further tobacco excise increases.
- No recommendation to either reduce the GST rate or introduce new exceptions (food/drink concessions for low income families for example). Instead, increases to welfare transfers and adjustments to personal tax rates/thresholds are seen as a more effective mechanism to assist low-middle income families. Additionally, no recommendation to introduce a financial transactions tax.
- Recommendation to expand the use of the withholding tax regime to increase compliance of the self-employed (including digital platform providers such as Uber).
- Conclusion that current taxation of business largely sound and no recommendation therefore to reduce the company tax rate or introduce any progressive scale, suggesting instead that compliance cost reductions are a better mechanism to assist small businesses. In this last respect, the TWG is still formulating its recommendations.
- Recommendation to improve the integrity of the tax system by IRD strengthening enforcement around use of shareholder current accounts in closely-held companies (recognising top personal tax rate/company rate different, so using overdrawn current accounts & paying higher company tax provides opportunity to avoid higher personal taxes on larger shareholder salaries), and introduction of more measures to reduce extent of hidden economy (e.g. removal of tax deductibility on payments where payer has failed to comply with withholding tax regime). Additionally, a recommendation to consider making directors personally liable for company GST and PAYE arrears, and the establishment of a single Crown debt collection agency.
- Conclusion that the rules around private charitable foundations and trusts appear to be unusually loose, however recognition that the Government is presently reviewing the Charities Act 2005 and consequently that some of the TWG’s concerns could be addressed accordingly upon finalisation of this review.
Recommendation to improve the resolution of tax disputes by establishing a taxpayer advocate service and by ensuring the Office of the Ombudsman is adequately resourced in respect to its tax function.
Public feedback is welcomed and encouraged with respect to the interim report. In this regard, submissions can be made until 1st November 2018. The final report is still due for publication in February 2019.
Corporate tax rate well above average
While the TWG has suggested in its interim report that there will be no recommendation to either reduce NZ’s corporate tax rate or to introduce any sort of progressive scale, an OECD report released around the same time as the TWG report, reflects the NZ rate of 28% to be somewhat above the OECD average.
“Tax Policy Reforms 2018” has been prepared and released by the OECD to reflect on the various tax reforms that have been undertaken by some of the 35 member countries involved in the review, and reports that a number have used corporate tax rate reductions to boost local investment, consumption and labour market participation.
The average corporate income tax rate across the OECD has dropped over the past 18 years, from being 32.5% in 2000, to 23.9% in 2018. One may question therefore the TWG’s interim view, and question how NZ can remain competitive on the international stage, with a corporate tax rate that is arguably higher than many of the markets it competes with, to attract foreign direct investment into NZ. In making this statement however, I must concede that I have only looked at the raw numbers themselves, and there are no doubt numerous other variables that still make NZ an attractive place to invest, even with a higher tax impost on profits derived from the jurisdiction (and to be fair, the TWG does provide a reasonably sound basis for their view).
Reducing personal tax rates has also been a popular tool to assist those low and middle income earners, as has the use of excise taxes to attempt to curb what is considered, by the powers that be, harmful consumption, the focus not only on the old favourites of tobacco and alcohol, but more jurisdictions (Ireland, South Africa and the UK recently) also looking to target the health risks associated with high sugar consumption.
If you would like to read more of the OECD report, you should be able to read it online via this link – https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/tax-policy-reforms-2018_9789264304468-en#page1
Richard Ashby BBus, CA, CPA
PARTNER
Em: [email protected]
Ph: +64 9 365 5532
Mb: +64 21 823 464