Treasury Guest Lecture with Michael Keen: VIRTUAL attendance

Join us for our special Fiscal Policy for the Future seminar

New Zealand faces significant long-term fiscal challenges, including the rising costs associated with an ageing population, increasing demand for public services, and the need to adapt to a changing global economy. These pressures will require careful planning to ensure the sustainability of government finances while maintaining fairness and efficiency in the tax system.

Inland Revenue’s draft Long-Term Insights Briefing explores these issues by asking critical questions about the future shape and scale of our tax system. Similarly, the Treasury’s Long-Term Fiscal Statement highlights the importance of future-proofing our tax framework and other broader policy settings to address these challenges.

Join us for this seminar delivered by a highly regarded economist and expert in tax policy and administration, and a prolific author, Michael Keen, as he shares his insights on future proofing our tax system.

This will be a hybrid event, and we encourage you to attend it in person for an opportunity to engage in a discussion on all those issues with our guest speaker.

About this event

This will be a hybrid event. Please use this site to register if you plan to attend it virtually (via MS Teams).

If you would like to attend it in person (The Treasury, 1 The Terrace, Wellington), please use THIS LINK to register.

The Tax Policy Charitable Trust has arranged Mick’s visit to New Zealand. The Trust was established to support leading tax policy thinking in New Zealand. You can read about the Trust’s work here.

About the presenter

Michael (Mick) Keen is a former Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund, where for over twenty years he played a central role in shaping and delivering IMF policies and advice on tax matters.

He has advised finance ministries in all parts of the world, including missions to over forty countries, and led the preparation of influential papers for the G20 and the Executive Board of the IMF.

Before joining the Fund, Mick was Professor of Economics at the universities of Essex (UK), Queens (Canada) and Kyoto, and is now Ushioda Fellow at the University of Tokyo.

Mick was the keynote speaker at the 2014 conference on the Future of Tax Administration in New Zealand and has provided peer review for Inland Revenue’s previous Long-Term Insights Briefing.

Mick has jointly authored, with Joel Slemrod, Rebellion, Rascals and Revenue – an entertaining account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation - and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

About this seminar series

New ideas, innovative concepts, research evidence and expert advice are all crucial to stimulate and inform the Treasury’s economic analysis and advice. Our current theme for guest lectures - Fiscal Policy for the Future - explores the role of stabilising, sustainable and effective fiscal policy. Speakers provide insights into how fiscal policy can be designed to support government to meet its current and future objectives and obligations while adapting to changing circumstances and delivering value to the New Zealand public.

Fiscal policy has a stabilising role in helping to smooth the business cycle, while sustainability in fiscal policy is foundational for resilience to both shocks and longstanding challenges, such as climate change, technological advancements, and demographic trends. Ensuring effective and value for money expenditure is important so that fiscal policy contributes to the living standards of New Zealanders, both now and in the future.

Please note that the views, opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in the Treasury Guest Lecture Series are those of the individual presenters. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the New Zealand Treasury or the New Zealand Government.

For updates and our latest research visit: www.treasury.govt.nz

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