Past events
Information about all past events hosted by the Chair in Public Finance.
Income Inequality and Mobility: New Evidence for New Zealand
- When: 21 February 2023
- Time: 8.45am - 4.30pm
- Where: Level 12, Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Wellington
The Chair in Public Finance held a one-day workshop at the Wellington School of Business and Government on "Income Inequality and Mobility: New Evidence for New Zealand" on Tuesday 21st February 2023.
Presentations included:
- Latest results on changes in income inequality and mobility based on administrative data, from a 3-year CPF project funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's Endeavour Fund
- Research on economic disadvantage and hardship from the New Zealand Productivity Commission
- New evidence on the incidence of taxes and government spending across the income distribution, from the New Zealand Treasury
The full programme can be viewed here.
You can view the presentations here - Session One and Session Three.
New Horizons in Tax-Transfer Microsimulation Workshop
- When: 2 June 2021
- Where: Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Pipitea, Mezzanine Floor, Room MZ03
- Presented by: Chris Ball
This workshop introduced exciting innovations in behavioural tax modelling including:
- Considerable extensions to the modelling of labour supply, including introducing more realistic assumptions around work choices available to individuals.
- New software developments, in a user-friendly package, to enable analysts to carry out numerous simulations remarkably quickly.
The new model focuses on the kind of information required by tax and welfare policy advisers, and ease of examining a wide range of reforms.
You can view the presentation here.
Research Seminar - High-frequency Spending Responses to the Earned Income Tax Credit
- When: 30 January 2020
- Where: Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Pipitea, Mezzanine Floor, Room MZ05
David Cashin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington DC
Over the past several decades, the U.S. government has shifted its support of low-income families from transfer payments and in-kind benefits to the tax system. In 2018, 25 million low-income workers received the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Our paper explores how these annual refundable tax credits affect spending of EITC recipients. To do so, we use a large data set with daily, state-level estimates of retail sales (Aladangady, et al. 2019), along with administrative data from the Internal Revenue Service. We use two sources of variation to identify the marginal propensity to consume. First, we rely on plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of EITC refunds, including changes related to the implementation of the PATH Act. Second, we use differences across states in the share of federal tax refund dollars from the EITC. We find that EITC recipients spend 25 cents out of each refund dollar at retail stores and restaurants within two weeks of issuance, with one-third of that spending in the week of receipt. In addition, we show that non-durable expenditures – such as at grocery stores and restaurants – increase, along with durable goods, on EITC receipt. The rapid and noticeable response to these large, predictable payments suggests that spending among low-income working families is sensitive to changes in their income. Our findings imply that more regular payments throughout the year – as opposed to annual, lump-sum refunds – may improve the well-being of EITC recipients. Finally, stimulus payments to EITC recipients in a recession could, according to our results, quickly boost aggregate demand.
Public Economics Research Day 2019
- When: 4 November 2019
- Where: Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Pipitea, Mezzanine Floor, Room MZ02
The Public Economics Research Day brought together scholars from across New Zealand and Australia to share recent research.
Objective: Providing an opportunity for informal interaction among public economics/finance researchers and other interested parties in New Zealand and Australia. Key objections were:
- knowledge sharing: to bring participants up-to-date on our recent PE research
- to facilitate feedback on specific early-stage pieces of work
- to share plans for future research including opportunities for collaboration
- to help promote a public economics community of researchers and officials in New Zealand and Australia
Modelling Tax Policy and Compliance Workshop
- When: 14 & 15 March 2019
- Where: Kay House Duryard, University of Exeter, UK
This workshop was jointly organised by the Tax Administration Research Centre at the University of Exeter, UK and The Chair in Public Finance. The workshop was supported by funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The workshop aimed to share recent research from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and various European countries, on developments in economic modelling of tax policy and tax compliance.
Public Economics Workshop on Modelling Tax Policy and Compliance
- When: 6, 7 & 10 December 2018
- Where: Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Pipitea, Mezzanine Floor, Room MZ06
This workshop was jointly organised between the Tax Administration Research Centre at the University of Exeter, UK and The Chair in Public Finance. The workshop aimed to share recent research from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, on developments in economic modelling of tax policy and tax compliance, in conjunction with a Masterclass for tax researchers on tax-transfer microsimulation modelling.
Public Economics Research Day
- When: Tuesday 10 April 2018 Time: 9.30am - 4.45pm
- Where: Rutherford House, 23 Lambton Quay, Pipitea, Mezzanine Floor, Room MZ05
The Public Economics Research Day brought together scholars from across New Zealand and Australia to share recent research on topics such as tax compliance, elasticities of taxable income, optimal income tax reforms, etc. Presenters include Dr Peer Skov (AUT), Professor Robert Breunig (ANU), Dr Christian Gillitzer (University of Sydney).
Objective: Providing an opportunity for informal interaction among public economics/finance researchers and other interested parties in New Zealand and Australia. Key objectives were:
- knowledge sharing: to bring participants up-to-date on our recent PE research
- to facilitate feedback on specific pieces of work
- to share plans for future research including opportunities for collaboration
- to help promote a public economics community of officials and researchers in New Zealand and Australia
You can view the outline programme and presentations here.
Company Tax in the Trump Era: Options for Fiscally Sustainable Reform
- When: Monday 26 February 2018 Time: 12.30pm - 1.30pm
A seminar by Professor Miranda Stewart from the University of Melbourne Law School will examine the case for alternative reforms of corporate taxation that could fund a corporate tax rate cut, while addressing key non-neutralities in the corporate tax system in an international context. These include abolition of dividend imputation in favour of a lower headline company tax rate and various reform options for the corporate tax base, ranging from the cash flow tax and allowance for corporate equity or capital to a comprehensive business income tax which would eliminate interest deductibility.
President Trump has drastically cut the US company tax rate to 21% from 35%, while ending the era of “stateless income” for corporations. Meanwhile the Australian Government aims to reduce the company tax rate from 30% to 25% but does not yet have political support to do this, in light of widespread concerns about fiscal cost, the imputation system and the nature of Australia’s resource economy.
About Professor Miranda Stewart
Miranda Stewart is Professor at the University of Melbourne Law School and a Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University, where she was director until the end of 2017. She teaches and researches in the areas of tax law and policy including taxation of business and investment entities, tax and development, not-for-profits, and tax reform in the context of globalisation
Public Finance Research Day
When: 11 October 2017
Where: Rutherford House – RHMZ03
This was an opportunity for informal interaction with Public Finance researchers and interested parties. The objectives of the Public Finance research day were:
- knowledge sharing: to bring participants up-to-date on our recent public finance research;
- to facilitate feedback on specific pieces of work (if the authors so wish); and
- to share plans for future research including opportunities for collaboration
- to help establish a public finance community of researchers in NZ
You can view the outline programme and presentations here.
Tax Compliance Masterclass
This masterclass is led by two of the world’s leading experts on tax compliance research, Professor James Alm and Professor Gareth Myles
- When: 6th – 7th December 2016
- Where: Wellington: Te Wharewaka o Pōneke Function Centre, Waterfront
This 1½ day Masterclass will share latest thinking on the economics of tax compliance, an update on research from the US, Europe and New Zealand and explore how tax compliance research can inform tax policy and tax compliance effort in practice.
The 2016 Public Finance Debate Series hosted by the Government Economics Network and the Chair in Public Finance
Debate 1: Big data in policy advice: big opportunity or big risk?
In the absence of detailed knowledge of individuals’ circumstances, the traditional approach to policy targeting has often been to target the policy as widely to ensure that all those who might be eligible are reached. But now ‘big data’ is providing unique opportunities to identify individual characteristics, so radically improving our ability to target those most in need. But what are the risks? Some might argue that while big data can provide a more detailed picture of targeted individuals, it focuses policy on the symptoms, not the causes, of their condition.
Date: 28th September 2016 4:00 - 5:00 pm followed by refreshments
Debate 2: New Zealand needs a sugar tax to protect us from Christmas excesses
Waistlines often expand around the Christmas season. This may reflect the appearance of candy canes, eggnog lattes, and other edible Christmas goodies. Could a sugar tax save us from these sugar-laden treats? The UK introduced a tax on sugary drinks in its 2016 Budget and other countries seems to be lining up. But will it deal with the alleged obesity problem among children and adults? What about other good or bad side-effects of a sugar tax? Is regulation a better way to go? Or should government simply leave our Christmas treats alone.
15th December 4:00 - 5:00 pm followed by refreshments
2015
2015 Public Finance Christmas debate
on 9 December 2015, the Government Economics Network and Chair in Public Finance hosted a lively Christmas debate on the cost of happiness at Christmas.
Imputation and the New Zealand Dividend Psyche Seminar
Tax has a major impact on corporate dividend policy. In-depth interviews with 25 New Zealand corporates and 12 investor groups underpin EY’s report Imputation and the New Zealand Dividend Psyche. The Chair in Public Finance and EY hosted a seminar to discuss this report on 23 November 2015.
2015 Public Finance debate series
From April to June, the Government Economics Network and Chair in Public Finance hosted a series of debates on topical public finance issues:
Debate 1: Today’s policy settings unfairly favour the baby boomer generation
Debate 2: Economic evidence should play a greater role in health policy evaluation
Debate 3: The ‘investment approach’ provides a helpful new tool for public spending policy and evaluation
2014
- The 2014 Public Finance Great Festive Debate (11 December)
- Pre-Election Public Lectures (1 and 2 Sept 2014)
- Tax Administration in the 21st Century Conference 2014 (12-13 June)
- Pre-Budget Event: "My 2014 Budget" (12 May)
2013
- Public Finance Debates (Oct-Dec)
- Long Term Fiscal External Panel (11 Apr)
- Summer Scholar Seminar (20 Mar)
- Prof Alan Auerbach Public Lecture (12 Mar)
- Long Term Fiscal External Panel (11 Mar)