Most see GST as ‘fairer’ tax system

Press, 10 August 1985, Page 9

Most see GST as ‘fairer’ tax system

Most New Zealanders see the goods and services tax as the key to a fairer tax system; they are concerned about the way the personal income tax system discourages hard work and productivity, and they believe the Government is obliged to take drastic action to sort out New Zealand’s economic problems, according to preliminary results of the tax-reform Heylen poll commissioned Officer released yesterday. One thousand people from throughout the country were interviewed in their homes in the period June 22 to 25, 1985, and the poll found a remarkably high level of understanding of the goods and services tax.

Almost all of those inter-

viewed (96 per cent) had heard about GST More than half (51 per cent) said they had heard “quite a lot’’ dabout it. about it.

However, it was clear that there was still a high demand for more information — 92 per cent said they were interested in knowing more about GST. There was an understandable lack of knowledge on some aspects of GST and this will be addressed through information and education programmes. For example, there was limited knowledge (only 55 per cent) of the intention to apply GST at the same rate across the board, and there was a strong belief that GST could be included more

than once in prices (51 per cent).

While many people said that they were confused or worried about the effects of GST, there were, on the other hand, a large number of people who were optimistic or enthusiastic about it.

Of the 1000 people interviewed, more than 60 per cent:

® Believe GST was a system created for a fairer tax system (61 per cent). @ Believe that reduced personal income tax will encourage people to earn more and increase productivity (61 per cent). ® Agreed that the Government should take drastic action “to sort out” New Zealand’s economic problems (61 per cent).