The brief
The Taxpayers' Union wanted to turn the government's financial accounts into something an ordinary New Zealander could actually read. Treasury and Reserve Bank data exist, but they're scattered, technical, and easy to spin.
What we built
FiscalReality.nz compiles Treasury figures, Reserve Bank statistics and public-sector workforce data into one interactive fiscal dashboard. It charts government debt and the per-household burden, bond yields and borrowing costs, Crown spending trajectories, public-sector headcount growth, real GDP per household, and forecast interest expense — from 2008 through to projections out to 2030.
The approach
Every chart is built to be self-explanatory and shareable, with historical context and forward projections side by side so that trends — not single data points — drive the story. The platform is fast, accessible, and refreshes as new official data lands.
The outcome
A public-accountability tool that lets citizens scrutinise the fiscal trajectory for themselves, rather than relying on headline summaries.