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Story: Taxes

Top income tax rates

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The top rate of income tax has varied widely over time. It first spiked in the First World War, and again in the 1920s depression and in the Second World War, when it peaked at 90%. The top rate remained high until 1988 when it dropped to 33%. These high top rates of income tax encouraged widespread tax evasion and avoidance through the many loopholes in the complicated tax system that had evolved following the Second World War.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: Paul Goldsmith, We won, you lost, eat that! Auckland: David Ling, 2008, p. 334

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Paul Goldsmith, Taxes – Liberal Party taxes – 1890 to 1912, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/graph/21532/top-income-tax-rates (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Paul Goldsmith, published 27 October 2009, updated 2 September 2016.