The OECD has launched a new database providing detailed tax revenue data for 80 countries, covering the period from 1990 onwards. This will expand to cover more than 90 countries by the end of 2018. The key indicators of the database are tax-to-GDP ratio and tax structure (i.e. share of a tax category in total tax revenue).
A working paper, ‘Domestic revenue mobilisation’, which draws on the new database, shows tax revenues at higher levels and more evenly spread across countries than in 2000, with the largest increases in tax-to-GDP ratios found in those countries with the lowest revenues. Key findings from the working paper include:
tax-to-GDP ratios range from 10.8% to 45.9% across the 80 countries;
half of the countries have a tax-to-GDP ratio ranging between 18.2% and 33.2%;
three-quarters of the countries in the database have increased their tax-to-GDP ratios since 2000;
the remaining quarter of countries in which tax-to-GDP ratios fell are predominantly OECD countries;
in Africa and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, taxes on goods and services (especially VAT) and corporate income taxes account for the largest share of revenues; and
in most OECD countries, social security contributions and personal income taxes form the highest shares of tax revenue, with VAT playing a smaller role.
Per capita income and different types of tax structures are linked to the level of taxation. These show:
a positive correlation between tax-to-GDP levels, per capita income levels and the share of personal income tax and social security contributions; and
a negative correlation between tax-to-GDP levels and the shares of corporate taxes and taxes on goods and services.
The OECD has launched a new database providing detailed tax revenue data for 80 countries, covering the period from 1990 onwards. This will expand to cover more than 90 countries by the end of 2018. The key indicators of the database are tax-to-GDP ratio and tax structure (i.e. share of a tax category in total tax revenue).
A working paper, ‘Domestic revenue mobilisation’, which draws on the new database, shows tax revenues at higher levels and more evenly spread across countries than in 2000, with the largest increases in tax-to-GDP ratios found in those countries with the lowest revenues. Key findings from the working paper include:
tax-to-GDP ratios range from 10.8% to 45.9% across the 80 countries;
half of the countries have a tax-to-GDP ratio ranging between 18.2% and 33.2%;
three-quarters of the countries in the database have increased their tax-to-GDP ratios since 2000;
the remaining quarter of countries in which tax-to-GDP ratios fell are predominantly OECD countries;
in Africa and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, taxes on goods and services (especially VAT) and corporate income taxes account for the largest share of revenues; and
in most OECD countries, social security contributions and personal income taxes form the highest shares of tax revenue, with VAT playing a smaller role.
Per capita income and different types of tax structures are linked to the level of taxation. These show:
a positive correlation between tax-to-GDP levels, per capita income levels and the share of personal income tax and social security contributions; and
a negative correlation between tax-to-GDP levels and the shares of corporate taxes and taxes on goods and services.
