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Story: Taxes

Flat tax

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Flat tax
Roger Douglas, minister of finance in the Labour government from 1984 to 1988, is shown as the Greek god Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. In 1987 Douglas wanted to introduce a flat income-tax rate, so no matter how much people earned they paid the same rate. Prime Minister David Lange axed the plan. A compromise deal was introduced in 1988: a two-step income tax scale of 24% on incomes up to $30,000, and 33% on incomes above that; and a 28% company tax (down from 48%). Douglas’s tax reforms were the most radical in New Zealand history.

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Paul Goldsmith, Taxes – Labour government reforms – 1984 to 1990, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/21555/flat-tax (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Paul Goldsmith, published 27 October 2009, updated 2 September 2016.