‘Lost our nerve’: Winston Peters says Big Tech companies should be paying more tax in NZ

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters (file photo).

Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters says that Big Tech companies are not paying enough tax in New Zealand.

A Stuff investigation revealed that government agencies reported spending at least $18.4 million on advertising with offshore tech companies in 2025.

Google/YouTube (Alphabet) received about $7.23m, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) received $7.2m, and TikTok received $1.7m.

'I think the answer to that is definitely not,' Peters said, when asked if overseas tech companies were paying enough tax in New Zealand.

Govt entities are spending substantially more advertising with overseas tech giants like Google and Meta (which divert the vast majority of their pre-tax revenue offshore) compared with struggling local companies (which pay 28% corporate tax).

'Well, it's no surprise. We set out ten years ago to do something about it and then just lost our nerve.'

Peters agreed taxpayer dollars spent on advertising should be funnelled to local media instead, adding that 'school books are being bought from overseas when they should be bought from this country and support our own businesses. It's called New Zealand First.'

The investigation involved 153 Official Information Act requests to government departments, ministries, SOEs, and public entities.

Several major agencies, including Tourism NZ, TVNZ, Health NZ and MPI, either refused or only partially released spending details.

You can read that reporting here. And see a breakdown below.

Overall, ACC spent the most ($3.3m), which included $1.7m to Alphabet. NZTA was the largest spender with Meta at $1.08m.

More taxpayer cash was spent advertising with Alphabet and Meta ($14.43m), than advertising with or subscribing to major local media brands combined ($13.7m).

Stuff’s reporting also explains the tax situation in detail.

Foreign big tech companies that operate in New Zealand divert the vast majority of their revenue offshore - typically via an Irish or Singaporean subsidiary - as ‘licensing fees’, ‘purchases’ or ‘service fees’.

This reduces their taxable profits, and hence reduces the amount of company tax they have to pay. It’s laid out in a report by tax expert Nick Miller. You can read it here.

An example he gives is Google NZ, which in 2024 had revenues of $1.139bn but incurred ‘service fees’ of $1.052bn from its Singapore-based subsidiary. It left a taxable profit of just $29m.

Peters has an interesting relationship with social media.

Earlier this year, the official New Zealand Parliament account announced it will no longer be posting on X (formerly Twitter) - and Winston Peters was not happy about it.

National MP Catherine Wedd stops to talk with the media as she walks to Parliament on Wednesday morning.

The announcement followed a Sunday Star-Times column by Andrea Vance, who called for public organisations and politicians to depart from the platform.

National MP Catherine Wedd, who initially put forward a bill that would ban social media for under 16s, said as a government they should be doing more.

'I think that tech companies, as you know, I've been advocating to ban social media for under 16s in New Zealand, are exploiting our kids. They're commercialising our kids, and I think it's wrong. We need to do more as a government. That is why minister Erica Stanford is working on government tools, and that is progressing.'

When National MP Joseph Mooney was asked: Should the government funnel their advertising dollars towards local media instead of big tech?

He responded: 'Go local media'. And walked off.

When senior Cabinet minister, Defence Minister Chris Penk, was asked about it, he effectively said no comment: 'It's not really for me to comment on. If there's a revenue issue, or if there's a public service decision making question, that's better directed to other ministers or spokespeople than me.'