In 2020, as COVID-19 closed borders and sent unemployment soaring, New Zealand had 30.4 million taxpayer records. Four years later, that number sits at 32.7 million. (Source: Stats NZ, taxable-income-sources)

That's an increase of 2.3 million taxpayers during the most economically turbulent period in recent history. While businesses collapsed and migration ground to a halt, something strange happened: the tax base kept expanding.

Here's the tension nobody's talking about. In 2021, right in the middle of lockdowns and border closures, the taxpayer count actually dropped slightly to 30.4 million. That makes sense. People lost jobs. Borders were sealed. The economy contracted.

But then it exploded. By 2022, it jumped to 30.8 million. By 2023, 31.7 million. And this year, 32.7 million. That's a gain of 2.3 million taxpayer records in just two years, after borders reopened.

The scale becomes clearer when you look at the long view. Between 2000 and 2020, New Zealand added taxpayers at a steady pace. Twenty years to build from wherever it started to 30.4 million. Then it added the equivalent of two decades' worth of growth in just four years.

This isn't just about migration, though that's clearly part of it. It's about multiple income sources per person. One Kiwi with two jobs shows up twice in this data. Someone earning salary, investment income, and rental income? That's three records. The 32.7 million figure isn't counting people. It's counting taxable income sources.

Which means the jump tells you two stories at once. Yes, more people are working in New Zealand than ever before. But also, more Kiwis are juggling multiple income streams. The side hustle economy, the rental property boom, the gig work explosion: all of that shows up here as separate taxpayer records.

The 2020-2021 dip reveals what happens when those income streams dry up. People lost second jobs first. Investment income vanished. Rental markets stalled. The taxpayer count reflected that immediately.

The 2022-2024 surge shows the opposite. Borders opened. Migration resumed. But more than that, Kiwis rebuilt their income portfolios. The person who lost their second job in 2020 found another one. The property investor who paused buying started again. Each new income stream added another line to the taxpayer count.

So when you hear politicians talk about the tax base, this is what they mean. Not 32.7 million people. But 32.7 million separate income sources, each generating tax revenue. The number keeps climbing because New Zealand's economy isn't just growing. It's fragmenting. One person, multiple incomes, multiple taxpayer records.

That's the story of the last four years: not just recovery, but multiplication.