Annual Jesson Lecture in Politics - All New Zealanders are equal?

All New Zealanders are equal, but some are more equal than others

Why are those less advantaged in New Zealand society treated differently from those who are in relatively privileged positions? Why are white-collar tax evaders treated differently to welfare fraudsters? This talk will consider circumstances where this occurs, aiming to highlight and challenge issues of equity, privilege, and the construction of crime and criminals in New Zealand.

The presentation will cover:

• Investigation, prosecution and sentencing of tax evaders and welfare fraudsters;
• The sentencing of serious white-collar financial crime;
• The individual treatment of taxpayers and the collective treatment of welfare recipients;
• Different treatments of debtors to the Crown (taxpayers, welfare recipients and students);
• The introduction of legislation that provides for more punitive treatment for partners of welfare fraudsters than the partners of those engaging in other financial offending; and,
• The preferential treatment of the wealthy in the tax system.

Dr Lisa Marriott

Lisa Marriott is an Associate Professor of Taxation at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Accounting and Commercial Law. Lisa’s research interests include social justice and inequality, and the behavioural impacts of taxation. Lisa has publications in a range of refereed journals and is the author of The Politics of Retirement Savings Taxation: A Trans-Tasman Perspective. Her work is interdisciplinary covering disciplines including sociology, political science and public policy. Lisa was awarded a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant to investigate the different treatments of tax evasion and welfare fraud in the New Zealand justice system. Lisa has worked in the private sector in the United Kingdom and in the public sector in New Zealand. For the past ten years, Lisa has worked in academia.