Are Kiwi millionaires still considered rich?
servicing a largemortgage or trying to support a family on that. (Data shows that even households earning $100,000 still get some Government support.)
NETWEALTH
Do you know your own netwealth? You can calculate your net wealth, or net worth, by adding up the value of all your assets (house, car, toilet paper collection) and then subtractingwhat you owe.
Stats NZ data shows that the median individual net worth for Pa¯keha¯/europeans is $138,000 and $29,000 for Ma¯ori – although this figure excludes assets in Ma¯ori land and trusts.
There are 305,000 New Zealand individualsworth more than a net $1m. Of those, 175,000 are worth more than $1.5m. That’s a healthy number ofmillionaires.
But by comparison, in 2018 there were 32,000 peoplewho were in the red bymore than $100,000 and 1.51 million peopleworth between nothing and $100,000. By thatmeasure, if you’re worth more than $200,000 you’re doing better than most.
WHAT’S THE 1%?
People often use the phrase the ‘‘1 per cent’’ as shorthand for the uberwealthy in the world. Stats NZ data shows that to be in the top 1 per cent on an individual level in New Zealand, you need to have assets of $3.89m. To be in the top 5 per cent, you need to clear $1.4m.
On a household level, you get to 1 per cent with combined assets of $7.8million. A top 5 per cent household needs $2.83m.
SHOULD WE TAX THE RICH?
While there has been more discussion of wealth taxes recently, economist Gareth Kiernan, of Infometrics, said it was not a mainstream idea yet.
He said many Scandinavian countries applied heavier taxes to higher earners than New Zealand did but therewas a value judgment to make in how much redistribution New Zealanders wanted the tax system to achieve.
Researcher Jess BerentsonShaw, of think tank The Workshop, said a wealth taxwould need to be set based on relative measures.
‘‘If a person has wealth at an amount that only 5 per cent of other people in New Zealand held and that group as a whole held, say, 35 per cent to 40 per cent of the total wealth innew Zealand statistics, it would be sensible to say they are rich,’’ she said.
‘‘And you could say ‘This is whatwe consider rich based on relative wealth in New Zealand’ and see how it went.
‘‘You would adjust it based on data over the years and public acceptability aswell.
‘‘Basically, wealth – and poverty – is generally better conceptualised in a country like New Zealand as relative, so it makes sense to start a wealth tax in the context of that relative data.’’