This research investigates the feasibility of re-introducing a comprehensive estate duty regime in contemporary New Zealand, explored through the lenses of tax practitioners and tax academics. Estate duty was utilised in New Zealand for 111 years, from 1881 until 1992. Once a well-regarded and moderate contributor to the New Zealand tax system, the estate duty regime withered in both popularity and efficiency during the second half of the 20th century, eventually being abolished by the incumbent National Government in 1992.

Since the 1992 estate duty abolition, few scholars have published literature regarding the possible re-introduction of the estate duty in New Zealand. Estate duty has also remained an equally absent topic in the New Zealand parliamentary debates (NZPD). As such, this research explores the practicability of re-imposing an estate duty in New Zealand by probing the knowledge and theories of tax practitioners and tax academics.

Through semi-structured interviews, participants first elaborated on their past experiences and knowledge (if any) of the previous estate duty regime. The participants were then asked to evaluate why (in their view) the estate duty was abolished in New Zealand in 1992. The semi-structured interviews then assessed the rationales for, and against, levying an estate duty in present-day New Zealand.

While some participants supported a new estate duty on the basis of greater fairness and wealth redistribution in the New Zealand tax system, others criticised the regime for being overly complex and political in nature. The tax practitioners and tax academics also recognised issues of asset selection, asset valuation, the tax rate, liquidity, exemptions, inter vivos gifting, trusts, and migration as key matters for policymakers to address prior to any possible resurrection of estate duty in New Zealand.

Whether or not an estate duty is the right fit for New Zealand, it is evident that conflicts surrounding the taxing of wealth endure.