We define customer motivation as the factors that make people willing to comply and then actually follow through with an action.
Aotearoa New Zealand's tax and social policy system is based on customers voluntarily making the payments they should and claiming only what they're entitled to. For this system to work, it is critical that the public trusts Inland Revenue.
We measure our customer's trust in us and their tax morale through our Customer Experience and Perceptions Survey. This survey asks customers to rate their responses on a 7-point scale.
| Statement | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have trust in us | 79% | 75% | 72% |
| Feel good about paying tax | 84% | 81% | 78% |
| Inland Revenue helps people who are trying to get things right | 86% | 83% | 80% |
| If someone tries to avoid paying the right amount, they will get into trouble with Inland Revenue | 93% | 88% | 89% |
In 2021-22, 72% of customers gave a trust score of 4 to 7, meaning they trust us or feel neutral. This result is 3 percentage points lower than last year. We know our customers' direct experiences with us drive their trust in us and our reputation. It was sometimes harder for customers to reach us this year (while we focused on providing COVID-19 support). We know this impacted customer experience and that customer experience is a key influence of trust.
Domestic and international issues are also weighing on the minds of New Zealanders, influencing how they think and feel. New Zealanders are concerned about inflation, the cost of living, business and consumer confidence, COVID-19 and other global issues.
Globally, the challenge of maintaining people's trust in government and public institutions is emerging as one of the key outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealanders trust in the public sector brand and Inland Revenue is decreasing in general. An OECD survey on trust in public institutions found that, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, countries experienced a lift in trust in their governments, but, in many countries, this trust declined by mid-2021.
We also saw decreases across 2 areas of tax morale, reflecting the environment Inland Revenue is operating in, where global events are affecting the domestic economy and people's faith in government and the public service.
We also look at the Public Sector Reputation Index (RepZ). RepZ measures the reputation of public sector organisations in 4 areas:
- trust
- fairness
- social responsibility
- leadership.
This year, our score was down from 2021 but similar to 2020.
Note: Percentages refer to the percentage of customers who gave a score of 4 to 7, where 1 means strongly disagree and 7 means strongly agree.