Jakarta, Intermask – This edition of Revenue Statistics provides final data on tax revenues in OECD countries for 2023 and preliminary data for 2024, a year in which short- and long-term spending pressures prompted several OECD countries to introduce measures to increase revenues. In 2024, the average tax-to-GDP ratio of OECD countries increased by 0.3 percentage points (p.p.) to 34.1%. This was the first annual increase since 2021 and elevated the average tax-to-GDP ratio for the 38 countries included in the report to its highest recorded level.
In this publication, taxes are defined as compulsory, unrequited payments to the general government or to a supranational authority. They are unrequited in that the benefits provided by governments to taxpayers are not normally allocated in proportion to their payments. Taxes are classified according to their base: income, profits and capital gains; payroll; property; goods and services; and other taxes. Compulsory social security contributions paid to general government are also treated as taxes. Revenues are analysed by level of government: federal or central; state; local; and social security funds. Detailed information on the classification of taxes is set out in the Interpretative Guide in Annex A.
Across OECD countries, tax-to-GDP ratios ranged from 18.3% in Mexico to 45.2% in Denmark in 2024. Between 2023 and 2024, the OECD average tax-to-GDP ratio increased from 33.7% to 34.1%.
- In 2024, tax-to-GDP ratios increased from the previous year in 22 of the 36 countries for which preliminary data is available, declined in 13 countries and remained unchanged in one.
- The largest increase in 2024 was observed in Latvia, whose tax-to-GDP ratio rose by 2.4 p.p. due to higher revenues as a share of GDP from personal income tax (PIT), social security contributions and corporate income tax (CIT). The second-largest increase was in Slovenia, where tax revenues rose by 1.9 p.p. as a result of higher social security contributions.
- The largest decline in the tax-to-GDP ratio in 2024 occurred in Colombia, of 2.2 p.p. This was primarily due to a decline in CIT revenues. Korea and Norway also recorded declines of larger than 1 p.p.in their tax-to-GDP ratio.
- Over the longer term, 31 OECD countries reported higher tax-to-GDP ratios in 2024 than in 2010, with the largest increases in the Slovak Republic (7.7 p.p.), Japan (7.5 p.p.) and Greece (7.4 p.p.). Among the remaining seven countries, Ireland’s tax-to-GDP ratio was 6.0 p.p. lower in 2024 than in 2010 while Hungary’s was 2.5 p.p. lower.
In 2023, the latest year for which final tax revenue data is available for all OECD countries, social security contributions accounted for the largest share of tax revenues in the OECD, at 25.5%, on average, while revenues from PIT accounted for the second-largest share, at 23.7%. VAT accounted for just over one-fifth of total revenues (20.5%), with other consumption taxes generating a further 10.8%. CIT accounted for 11.9% of total tax revenues in 2023, with property taxes (5.1%) and residual taxes accounting for the remainder.
Between 2022 and 2023, the average share of income tax revenues (PIT and CIT combined) in total tax revenues declined by 0.1 p.p. to 36.4%, with the share of PIT in total tax revenues increasing over this period while the share of CIT declined. In 2023, the average share of social security contributions in the OECD average tax structure increased by 0.7 p.p. while the share of tax revenues from taxes on goods and services decreased by 0.3 p.p.
On average, subnational governments received a lower share of tax revenues in 2023 than in 2022. The central government’s average share of revenues fell from 53.8% to 53.1% of general government revenue in federal countries and from 65.0% to 64.8% in unitary countries between 2022 and 2023. In federal countries, 17.6% of tax revenues were received at state level and 7.5% at local government level on average in 2023. At state level, the average share of tax revenues ranged from 1.9% in Austria to 38.0% in Canada, while at local government level it ranged from 1.7% in Mexico to 16.0% in Switzerland. In unitary countries, the share of local government revenues was 9.8% on average, ranging from 0.6% in Estonia to 35.7% in Sweden.
The Special Feature in this publication examines the proportion of PIT revenue that comes from different sources of individual income in OECD countries. Based on information provided for the first time by 29 countries for this edition of OECD Revenue Statistics and a methodology developed by the European Commission, the Special Feature compares across countries the relative importance of PIT revenue levied on income from employed labour, capital, self-employment, and pensions and social transfers. It also examines how the respective shares have evolved over time, thereby shedding light on the drivers behind increases in PIT revenue both within the average tax mix for OECD countries and as a share of GDP.
By disentangling PIT revenue according to the different income sources, this Special Feature facilitates analysis of the redistributive impact PIT systems as well as their interaction with the broader economy. This information, provided through indicators such as the implicit tax rates on different sources of income and the elasticity of PIT revenue, can in turn inform the design of policies to make PIT systems more adaptive to changes in the economy or more robust to shocks. It can also be used to enhance the reporting of PIT revenue in international revenues classifications.
The Special Feature shows that employed-labour income accounted for the majority of PIT revenue in all 29 countries in 2023, while the prominence of the other income sources varied across countries. Revenue from employed-labour income nonetheless fell as a share of total PIT revenue in two-thirds of the countries between 2011 and 2023, while the share of capital income and self-employed income in total PIT revenue increased in 18 countries and 15 countries respectively. The share of social transfers and pensions in overall PIT revenue increased in 12 countries and declined in 13. However, PIT revenue from employed-labour income increased as a share of GDP in 18 of the 29 countries between 2011 and 2023.
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