A Study of Incomes, Taxation and Incentive as Related to New Zealand Dairy Farming 1961 to 1969

Abstract

The decade of the nineteen-sixties saw much concern with the New Zealand economy. In variety and numbers, unparalled in any previous decade, councils, committees, commissions and conferences were launched to explore for means by which the Gross National Product could be expanded, or rather, expanded faster. The topic of economic growth rate permeated the political forum and Government action increasingly came to be debated in terms of the projected consequences upon production and productivity. The term "incentive" was enlisted into national service, attired with some new meanings and, in the form of tax incentives given a positive role to play in the fight for affluence. As one consequence between 1962 and 1966 the Land and Income Tax Act was much increased in size and complexity by the introduction of a wide variety of measures designed - and some were very ingeniously designed - to encourage increased production with the promise of reduced taxation.