www.geocities.com/nzwomen/SusanStJohn/2002124letterHerald.htm

In the past Roger Kerr has made many contentious claims that New Zealand is a highly taxed, big government country. His statement (17th January) that 'the share of government spending in national income is around 40 percent higher than the OECD average' cannot go unchallenged. On the various measures of government spending supplied by the OECD New Zealand sits below a simple average and well below the median. We are a tiny geographically dispersed population doing amazingly well on these indicators.
 

Susan St John
Senior lecturer Economics