How to zero-rate the GST on food : best and worst practice from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia

Resource Information

The work How to zero-rate the GST on food : best and worst practice from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Continuing Resources.

Label

How to zero-rate the GST on food : best and worst practice from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia

Creator

• Klink, A. van

Subject

• zero rate
• Pigouvian tax
• consumption tax
• GST

Language

eng

Summary

The norm in countries with consumption taxes is to exclude, by zero-rating, certain food items from taxation. New Zealand has to date been an exception, in part due to its relatively low rate of GST. The recent increase in the GST rate from 12.5 to 15 percent, along with concerns about obesity and rising food prices, has put pressure on New Zealand's position on taxing food. Rather than entering the well-canvassed debate of whether food should be zero-rated, this article considers what would be the best way to implement zero-rating of food were New Zealand to adopt that policy, by distilling lessons form the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. This article concludes that it is possible to craft a simple, principle-based approach to zero-rating food that mitigates the problems faced in other jurisdictions. Many of these problems were due to unique political circumstances that New Zealand is unlikely to face. Nevertheless, there are some universal traps in zero-rating food, which some countries have fallen into and others have avoided. New Zealand can learn from those experiences

Citation source

In: New Zealand journal of taxation law and policy. - Wellington. - Vol. 18 (2012),

Language note

English