Ka whai hua ngā tāngata katoa o Aotearoa i ngā tāke All New Zealanders benefit from tax

The money Inland Revenue collects helps pay for the public services that all New Zealanders benefit from, such as roads, education and healthcare. One of our responsibilities is to ensure government has funding for these essential services.

In 2020-21, we collected $94.5 billion of revenue to help fund government programmes. We collected $93.8 billion of tax revenue. Direct or income taxation (for example individuals' income tax or corporate tax) accounts for 68% of tax revenue. GST accounts for 28%.

Schedule of non-departmental revenue

Our total tax revenue of $93.8 billion was made up of the following.

• Individual income tax $44.8 billion (48% of revenue).
• Corporate income tax $18.5 billion (20% of revenue).
• GST $26.0 billion (28% of revenue).
• Other $4.5 billion (4% of revenue).

In 2020-21, the Government expected to spend in the following areas:

• $37.4 billion: Social security and welfare
• $23.8 billion: Health
• $16.3 billion: Education
• $6.2 billion: Core government services
• $5.9 billion: Transport and communications
• $5.5 billion: Law and order
• $5.0 billion: Economic and industrial services
• $2.7 billion: Defence
• $2.0 billion: Environmental protection
• $2.0 billion: Housing and community development
• $1.6 billion: Heritage, culture and recreation
• $1.3 billion: Primary services
• $0.7 billion: Other
• $0.1 billion: Government Superannuation Fund pension expenses.

Full details can be found on the Treasury website.

Budget Economic and Fiscal Update 2021 - treasury.govt.nz