Long before Adam Smith included equality as one of his taxation maxims, governments have endeavoured to present taxation as more or less fair or equitable, and taxpayers have questioned the fairness or equity of the same. This article considers how the language of fairness or equity has been used in the reports of past New Zealand tax committees. The article then questions the meaningfulness of such language. The article concludes that the presentation of taxation as more or less fair plays an important motivational, rather than substantive role.

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