Paul Glass: The real size of Govt debt in NZ, stripped of accounting tricks

There is no such thing as “government” money when it comes to spending. Governments get their funding from taxpayers either directly through taxes or through debt, which taxpayers must service and eventually repay.

In New Zealand, the three largest sources of tax revenue for the Government are individuals (35 per cent), GST (22 per cent) and corporate tax (17 per cent).

Over the last 30 years in NZ, governments, of both flavours, have taken a prudent approach to debt that recognises that we are a small and volatile trading nation, subject to frequent natural disasters, dependent on primary products, exposed to biological risks (think Covid, foot-and-mouth disease, Psa etc) and have a highly indebted household sector.

To read the full article by Paul Glass please click here.