Yeah the whole US mortgage interest exemption is a special US thing, not a natural tax exemption available worldwide
Here in NZ there are NO tax exemptions for normal humans (well there is one single one for low income families with small children) - it means that our taxes are incredibly easy to file - if you have one employer you probably don't need to file at all, if you want to it's 2 pages on a web form, if you don't file and the IRD owes you money they'll probably pop it in your bank for you.
Oh, and our high marginal tax rates are ~10% lower than I was paying in California, and that includes free public healthcare
1. Pension (up to a maximum amount, and tapered down from 40k to 4k depending on income) 2. Cycle to Work bike 3. Childcare vouchers
There's also some allowance if you're required to purchase things for your job, e.g. a uniform or tools, but vans, cars etc. are out.