Treasury’s Matt Woolley and Talia Smart from Inland Revenue (IRD) are the co-winners of tax policy competition run by the Tax Policy Scholarship Charitable Trust (TPSCT).
The pair impressed the heavyweight judging panel while presenting their respective proposals at Wellington’s Victoria University, receiving $7000 each for their efforts.
Woolley discussed a fully integrated tax system that attributes all company income to shareholders. Under that approach, businesses would pay tax on behalf of shareholders based on their marginal rates.
Smart’s proposal looked at removing the business income exemption for charities.
The other finalists were Chris Park (KPMG) and Nicholas Coyle (IRD).
Park’s proposal revisited the idea of a land tax, while Coyle’s presentation reconsidered the claw back of interest deductions. Both received $1000.
Presentations were judged by a panel comprising TPSCT chair and former PwC chair John Shewan, ex-Bell Gully tax partner Joanne Hodge, former IRD deputy commissioner Robin Oliver, Victoria University Business School dean Bob Buckle and ex-secretary of Treasury John Whitehead.
Competition background
Tax professionals under the age of 35 were invited by the TPSCT to submit proposals that outlined a significant reform of the tax system. Twenty-five entries were received.
The TPSCT was established in 2012 by Tax Management NZ and its founder Ian Kuperus to inspire the next generation of leaders in New Zealand tax policy and administration.
