Working paper from Munich Personal Repec Archive. Article available online at http://www.cipfa.org.uk/thejournal/Tax reform provides many examples of failures - where reforms did not achieve their objectives
successfully and sometimes even had to be reversed. However, value added tax (VAT) in the UK
and goods and services tax (GST) in New Zealand have survived successfully for many years. This
paper describes the nature and brief history of VAT and GST and then assesses the factors that
contributed to their success. A key factor is the process of implementation both in allowing effective
prior consultation to identify possible problems and improvements as well as preparing the
taxpaying public for change. It is also important that the reform was seen to be fair, that there were
gains as well as losses and the change was a net improvement. In assessing how the arguments
for the introduction of VAT/GST turned out in practice, it is clear that this is a robust form of taxation
and has been well able to accommodate the different political pressures in the UK and
New Zealand
