NZ’s tax take tops Anglosphere in IMF comparison
October 3, 2026
Summarised by Centrist
New Zealand collected tax revenue equivalent to 32.6% of GDP in 2024, placing it sixth among 192 countries and above Australia, Canada, the UK and the US in a comparison that excludes social security contributions.
Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld reports that Australia collected 29.4% of GDP in taxes, Canada 29.5%, the UK 28.5% and the US 19.5%. New Zealand’s share was 3.2 percentage points above Australia’s.
Denmark topped the IMF-based ranking at 45.3%, followed by Bulgaria at 38.8% and Sweden at 38.7%. Namibia and Iceland were the only other countries above New Zealand.
At the bottom were Libya at 1.2%, Kuwait at 1.4% and Iraq at 1.7%.
Low tax collections can reflect very different circumstances. Oil-rich governments can draw income from natural resources, while poorer countries may struggle to collect taxes because of large informal economies and limited administrative capacity.
These figures measure tax revenue relative to the economy, not individual tax rates. Some countries fund pensions and benefits through separate compulsory payments. Others use general taxes. A fair comparison needs to count both.
The OECD includes those payments. On that measure, New Zealand’s tax take was 32.9% of GDP in 2024, below the OECD average of 34.1%. That put New Zealand 27th out of 38 countries, ranked from highest to lowest.
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