: does NZ have the equivalent of sales tax or Value Added Tax? I know a certain small island somewhere to the West of NZ changed last year to a type of VAT.

NZ has had a universal Goods and Services Tax since around 1985. Australia's bizarrely complicated version has caused much amusement on this side of the Tasman. The only way the Oz GST could get passed was by making all sorts of exemptions. A friend of mine who was working in an accountants' office in Queensland was told to brush up her NZ accent prior to the introduction of GST, as they planned to advertise that they had on their staff a NZer with 15 years experience of GST. (She was about 5 when it was introduced here)