Dr Oliver Hartwich: The tax problem New Zealand cannot seem to solve

Every year, Inland Revenue writes off hundreds of millions in tax debt – $694.5 million last year alone. The money vanishes through the same predictable loopholes, exploited by the same cast of characters: directors who accumulate GST and PAYE debts, then walk away scot-free by abandoning their companies.

This is not a new problem. It is a perennial feature of New Zealand’s tax collection system, one that successive governments have tried and failed to fix.