The 2019 edition of the OECD’s annual publication, Revenue Statistics, shows tax revenues as a proportion of GDP have remained almost static since 2017. Within this overall trend, corporate income taxes reached their highest share of total tax revenues across the OECD since the financial crisis, while social security contributions continued their decline.
The OECD average tax-to-GDP ratio was 34.3% in 2018, virtually unchanged from 34.2% in 2017.
Reforms to personal and corporate taxes in the US prompted a significant drop in tax revenues, which fell from 26.8% of GDP in 2017 to 24.3% in 2018. US corporate income tax revenues fell by 0.7%, with personal income tax revenues falling by 0.5%.
Decreases in tax-to-GDP ratios were seen in 14 other countries, led by Hungary (1.6%) and Israel (1.4%), while 19 OECD countries reported increased tax-to-GDP ratios in 2018, led by Korea (1.5%) and Luxembourg (1.3%).
The majority of OECD countries had tax-to-GDP ratios between 30% and 40% of GDP in 2018 (with the UK standing at 33.5%). Eight EU countries had ratios above 40%, while five countries (Mexico, Chile, Ireland, the US and Turkey) recorded ratios under 25%.
Corporate income tax as a share of total tax revenues exceeded 9% for the first time since 2008. The share of social security contributions dropped to 26% in 2017.
This year’s report contains a special feature on environmentally-related tax revenues. These averaged 6.9% of total tax revenues in OECD countries in 2017, ranging from 2.8% in the US to 12.5% in Slovenia and Turkey. As a share of GDP, environmental taxes accounted for 2.3% on average, ranging from 0.7% in the US to 4.5% in Slovenia.
The 2019 edition of the OECD’s annual publication, Revenue Statistics, shows tax revenues as a proportion of GDP have remained almost static since 2017. Within this overall trend, corporate income taxes reached their highest share of total tax revenues across the OECD since the financial crisis, while social security contributions continued their decline.
The OECD average tax-to-GDP ratio was 34.3% in 2018, virtually unchanged from 34.2% in 2017.
Reforms to personal and corporate taxes in the US prompted a significant drop in tax revenues, which fell from 26.8% of GDP in 2017 to 24.3% in 2018. US corporate income tax revenues fell by 0.7%, with personal income tax revenues falling by 0.5%.
Decreases in tax-to-GDP ratios were seen in 14 other countries, led by Hungary (1.6%) and Israel (1.4%), while 19 OECD countries reported increased tax-to-GDP ratios in 2018, led by Korea (1.5%) and Luxembourg (1.3%).
The majority of OECD countries had tax-to-GDP ratios between 30% and 40% of GDP in 2018 (with the UK standing at 33.5%). Eight EU countries had ratios above 40%, while five countries (Mexico, Chile, Ireland, the US and Turkey) recorded ratios under 25%.
Corporate income tax as a share of total tax revenues exceeded 9% for the first time since 2008. The share of social security contributions dropped to 26% in 2017.
This year’s report contains a special feature on environmentally-related tax revenues. These averaged 6.9% of total tax revenues in OECD countries in 2017, ranging from 2.8% in the US to 12.5% in Slovenia and Turkey. As a share of GDP, environmental taxes accounted for 2.3% on average, ranging from 0.7% in the US to 4.5% in Slovenia.
