Reveal your spending or face $500 fine
5:00AM Tuesday March 06, 2007
By Jarrod Booker
New Zealanders are being asked to divulge personal information on their household spending to Statistics New Zealand under threat of a $500 fine if they refuse.
The demand placed on 4500 New Zealand households has concerned civil liberties advocates, who say it should be people's choice to expose their private habits in the annual household economic survey.
The people in the randomly selected households are asked to take part in a face-to-face interview, typically about one-and-a-half hours, and then complete a diary detailing the spending habits of all adults in the household over two weeks.
As with the Census, people are legally required to take part. Anyone who refuses can be fined up to $500.
Statistics New Zealand collection manager Ray Freeman said that although fines had been imposed for non-compliance in other surveys such as the Census, it was a "last resort". It had not been used yet against those refusing to take part in the household economic survey, but "the potential is there".
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