In New Zealand an opposition party has welcomed the launch of free trade talks with the EU but has called on the Government to address tax barriers to domestic economic activity. Reacting to NZ-EU FTA negotiations, the leader of the opposition ACT party warned that trade barriers impact not only on trade across national borders, but within nations too.
He said “New Zealand is full of internal trade barriers. That’s because most tax in New Zealand is levied only when trade occurs: most obviously, when someone pays for someone’s labor (income tax) or buys some goods or services (Goods and Services Tax)”. The ACT leader pointed out that high taxes lead to lower internal trade and lower productivity.
