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### Viewing cable 06WELLINGTON465, NEW ZEALAND TAX CHANGES WOULD END PREFERENCE FOR INVESTMENT

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
06WELLINGTON465 | 2006-06-19 21:09 | 2011-04-28 00:12 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Embassy Wellington

`

    VZCZCXRO3978
    RR RUEHNZ
    DE RUEHWL #0465/01 1702135
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    R 192135Z JUN 06
    FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2909
    INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4453
    RUEHNZ/AMCONSUL AUCKLAND 0785
    RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0060
    RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
    RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 0446

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000465

    SIPDIS

    SENSITIVE
    SIPDIS

    STATE FOR EAP/ANP-DRICCI AND EB
    STATE PASS TO USTR FOR BWEISEL
    COMMERCE FOR 4530/ITA/MAC/AP/OSAO/ABENAISSA
    TREASURY FOR OASIA
    SYDNEY FOR CS

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: EINV ECON EFIN NZ
    SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND TAX CHANGES WOULD END PREFERENCE FOR INVESTMENT
    IN U.S., AMONG OTHERS

    REF: WELLINGTON 396

    ¶1. (U) This is an action request; please see Paragraph 9.

    ¶2. (SBU) Summary:  The New Zealand government has proposed changing
    the tax treatment of overseas stock-market investments in an effort
    to protect small investors.  The proposal effectively would maintain
    a tax preference for portfolio investments in Australia, while
    removing tax benefits currently accorded portfolio investments in
    the United States and several other countries.  End summary.

    ¶3. (U) New Zealanders' investments in any of eight countries on the
    "gray list" -- including the United States -- currently incur taxes
    only on dividends.  Under legislation introduced May 17 in
    Parliament, the gray list would be abolished.  Individuals who
    invest directly in share portfolios outside New Zealand and
    Australia would pay not only a tax on their dividends, but also a
    tax based on the change in value of their investments over the
    course of each financial year.  It would be a partial tax on capital
    gains, even if the gains were unrealized.  The tax would be applied
    on 85 percent of the paper gain in value, with the tax capped at 5
    percent of the investment's value in any given year.  (The
    carried-over tax would have to be paid if the shares were sold and
    the proceeds remitted back to New Zealand.)  The rules would apply
    to all such overseas investments worth more than NZ $50,000 (US
    $31,200).  Thus, most small investors would escape the partial
    capital-gains tax, but wealthy investors would not.  Officials
    estimate that between 10,000 to 20,000 New Zealanders would pay the
    tax.  (ABN AMRO Craigs contends that number is as many as 100,000
    people.)  Meanwhile, in general, individuals and companies that own
    10 percent or more of a foreign company would continue to pay taxes
    only on dividends.

    ¶4. (U) Abolishing the gray list would mean that all offshore
    investments would be taxed the same, except for those in Australia.
    Holdings in Australia would be exempt from the partial capital-gains
    tax but still subject to a tax on dividends.  Finance Minister
    Cullen and Revenue Minister Dunne gave several reasons for
    Australia's special treatment, including an eventual goal of
    establishing a single investment market of Australia and New Zealand
    and the fact that Australian companies -- like New Zealand companies
    -- tend to pay out a high proportion of their profits as dividends.
    Besides Australia, the seven other countries on the gray list are:
    Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, the United States and the
    United Kingdom.

    ¶5. (U) The legislation also would make it more attractive to invest
    in managed funds that trade in New Zealand and Australian shares and
    that meet certain criteria as vehicles for savings and investment.
    Managed funds no longer would be taxed on capital gains from
    investing in Australian and New Zealand shares.  Instead, only the
    funds' earnings would be taxed, no longer at a flat 33 percent as
    they are now, but rather at the investor's marginal tax rate.
    Investors currently in the top income-tax bracket of 39 percent,
    however, still would have their earnings from managed funds taxed at
    33 percent.

    ¶6. (U) The proposal is touted by its backers as a "fairer"
    investment tax regime.  According to a statement issued April 11 by
    Ministers Cullen and Dunne:  "As always there will be winners and
    losers.  The losers in this case will tend to be sophisticated
    direct investors who have enjoyed considerable tax advantages under
    the old regime. ... The winners will be thousands of ordinary, hard
    working New Zealanders."  The ministers estimated the reform would
    cost the government NZ $110 million a year in forgone tax revenue.
    The bill has been referred to the Finance and Expenditure Committee,
    which will receive public comments until July 7.  If approved by
    Parliament, the changes would take effect in April 2007.

    ¶7. (U) Meanwhile, the government immediately introduced an amendment
    May 17 that would exclude overseas investments in certain types of
    companies from the new tax rules for five years, which would give
    the companies time to consider shifting their headquarters to New
    Zealand.  The amendment was aimed primarily at benefiting Guinness
    Peat Group, a London-based investment company that has 28,000 New
    Zealand shareholders.

    ¶8. (U) The proposals on managed funds should encourage investment in
    the New Zealand stock market, while the changes for individual
    investors should encourage those looking for overseas investments to
    focus on Australia.  The National Party condemned the tax proposal

    WELLINGTON 00000465  002 OF 002

    as unfairly targeting New Zealanders who invest offshore.  Business
    New Zealand, which represents business and employers' interests,
    criticized the changes for making it difficult for New Zealanders to
    diversify their portfolios.

    ¶9. (SBU) Action requested:  New Zealand companies and individuals
    held NZ $15.7 billion (US $9.8 billion) in U.S. portfolio
    investments as of March 2005, or 44.7 percent of the stock of New
    Zealand's portfolio investment overseas.  (Portfolio investment in
    Australia was only NZ $5.8 billion, or 16.5 percent of the total.)
    The Canadian consul in Auckland has asked post whether the U.S.
    government would take action on the tax proposal, noting the
    preference that it gives to investment domestically and in
    Australia.  Post seeks Department guidance as to how to answer this
    inquiry.  Post also recommends that, if U.S. agencies have questions
    or concerns about this proposed policy, it be added to the agenda
    for the U.S.-New Zealand Trade and Investment Framework Agreement
    discussions later this month.

    MCCORMICK

`