Naomi Ferguson

Ferguson led New Zealand's Inland Revenue during the introduction of automatic income-tax assessments in 2019. Where the agency had sufficient information, wage and salary earners could receive a refund without first requesting a personal tax summary. Assessments could also identify tax to pay. The first season produced actual payments, and the Audit Office examined the programme's benefits-monitoring systems. It is a useful case of removing a task from the taxpayer, while preserving the need to correct incomplete information.