Taxes too high, say New Zealanders

Nearly two out of three taxpayers believe they are paying too much tax, a new poll shows.

A National Business Review-Phillips Fox poll published today shows 62 per cent of people believe they are paying too much tax -- 11 per cent more than two years ago.

Treasury figures show personal income tax collected by the Government has risen by 40 per cent in the past five years, corporate tax by 57 per cent, and GST 16 per cent, the NBR reported.

The overall tax take, including GST, had risen 34 per cent -- from $34 billion to $45.7 billion.

While 62 per cent of people believed they were paying too much tax, the number of people who believed the level was "fair" was evenly split on 47 per cent.

However, the number who believed their tax payments were fair was down from 54 per cent two years ago.

Yesterday, in advance of the poll's release, National finance spokesman John Key said it showed a growing number of New Zealanders thought they were paying too much tax.

"More New Zealanders think the amount of tax they pay is unfair while the proportion who think they're getting a fair deal is decreasing," Mr Key said.

He blamed Labour spending more money, sometimes on projects that were low quality, while it did not amend tax brackets to account for inflation.

- NZPA