ACT's David Seymour - i like his style.

[Baa_Baa]

As I understand it & confirmed here, & I've also remember hearing this from other sources, Estate duties or Death Duties as we used to call them were set to zero in 1993 while Gift Duty was abolished in 2011.
Now you or writers can say or argue setting the amount to zero is the same thing as abolishing them.
But the difference is a govt could decide to reset the figure without having to re-establish the legislation around Estate Duties, whereas there govt would need to re-write & pass the legislation to re-establish Gift Duties.

If you read they were 'abolished', check what the writer is really saying is set to zero so consequently Estate Duties don't exist in NZ (at the moment)

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.


https://theconversation.com/forget-a...-wealth-143604

That article, for some reason uses the expression 'reduced to zero', which could imply that the Act remains in force. Poor choice of words, as the Act was repealed by the Estate Duty Abolition Act 1993.

"However, the rate of estate duty was reduced to zero in 1993 and gift duty was scrapped in 2011. According to tax law specialist Michael Littlewood:"

Interesting that if you had actually read the paper by Michael Littlewood, not only does he not say estate duties 'reduced to zero', in his very first sentence of the Introduction, he says "This article traces the rise and fall of death duties and gift duty in New Zealand from 1866 (when death duties were first introduced) until 2011 (when gift duty, the last remnant of the death duties system, was abolished)"

Estate and Gift Duties Act 1968 - note Estate Duty repealed.

Estate Duty Abolition Act 1993

"Estate duty abolished in respect of deaths occurring on or after 17 December 1992

• No estate duty shall be payable under the Estate and Gift Duties Act 1968 in respect of the estate of any person who dies on or after 17 December 1992.