Customers, Branding, and Mottoes in the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department

Since 1995, following the Organisational Review of the Department, the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department has tried to alter the way in which staff interact with taxpayers. A core aspect of this change has been an instruction to refer to taxpayers as “customers” with “needs” rather than as taxpayers with duties. This change has involved significant rebranding and a psychological shift in the department. While citizens’ satisfaction with the government certainly should improve if governments are able to bring the customer paradigm into their delivery of services, the contradictions between the concept of a customer of a private enterprise and the concept of a citizen with rights vis-à-vis government departments make this a difficult task. The Inland Revenue Department has failed to conduct market research to measure the success of this programme, both before and after the rebranding exercise. This makes it difficult to calculate the effectiveness of the exercise. The motto adopted by the Department as part of rebranding, “it’s our job to be fair”, fosters misunderstanding as it has distinctly different meanings to lawyers and to taxpayers in general. Since this article was published Inland Revenue has abandoned the motto