A new poll shows more than two-thirds of New Zealanders are opposed to multinational companies dodging tax by shifting profits offshore.
Mossack Fonseca Photo: AFP
The UMR research, paid for by campaign group ActionStation, found 69 percent of people were concerned about multinational companies organising their finances in such a way as to pay little tax in the countries in which they were doing business.
The poll also asked how well the government was dealing with the problem of tax avoidance.
About 40 percent said New Zealand was handling the issue poorly, and just 14 percent said it was doing well.
A spokesperson for ActionStation, Ryan Mearns, said the poll showed many New Zealanders were concerned.
"Multinational corporations are shafting our country by not paying their fair share in tax," he said.
"We're told this problem needs to be solved at the international level and clearly there is a role for international intervention but New Zealanders have run out of patience."
Mr Mearns said the government needed to act swiftly to close the profit-shifting loopholes the companies could exploit.
"The time has come for the government to take unilateral action, like in the UK, to close the profit-shifting loopholes that these corporations are exploiting."
The UMR poll was a telephone survey of 750 New Zealanders aged 18 and older.