A Comparison of the Tax Burden on Labor in the OECD, 2021
Governments often justify higher tax burdens with more extensive public services. However, the cost of these services can be more than half of an average worker’s salary.
21 min readGovernments often justify higher tax burdens with more extensive public services. However, the cost of these services can be more than half of an average worker’s salary.
21 min readThere’s a useful contrast between two revenue options related to President Biden’s infrastructure push. The president’s American Jobs Plan includes a proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. Meanwhile, historically, the gas tax is the main revenue source for transportation funding.
8 min readTaxes on goods and services were on average the greatest source of tax revenue for Latin American and Caribbean countries
5 min readTo help countries face the pandemic-related financing needs while reducing inequality, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a series of policy recommendations based on a temporary COVID-19 tax, levied on high incomes or wealth.
4 min readA year ago, it seemed possible that New Hampshire was headed toward a triggered tax increase. Instead, lawmakers may trim business tax rates and begin the phaseout of the state’s tax on interest and dividend income, which would take away the asterisk and make New Hampshire the ninth state to forgo an individual income tax altogether.
4 min readHungary relies the most on consumption tax revenue, at 45.3 percent of total tax revenue, followed by Latvia and Estonia at 45.1 percent and 42.4 percent, respectively.
2 min readThe UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak released the 2021 budget, and most important for near-term growth is the significant boost to capital allowances.
5 min readTax hikes or spending cuts implemented early in the year might undermine the desirable rapid recovery of the economy. The UK should focus on implementing tax reforms that have the potential to stimulate economic recovery by supporting business investment and employment while increasing its international tax competitiveness.
4 min readThe consultation on the EU’s digital levy provides an opportunity for policymakers and taxpayers to reflect on the underlying issues of digital taxation and potential consequences from a digital levy. Unless the EU digital levy is designed with an OECD agreement in mind, it is likely to cause more uncertainty in cross-border tax policy.
12 min readMany governments have chosen to use VAT as a tool to provide tax relief for consumption in various sectors throughout the pandemic, but in the long term, VAT should not be used as a tool for relief.
3 min readValue-added taxes (VAT) make up approximately one-fifth of total tax revenues in Europe. However, European countries differ significantly in how efficiently they raise VAT revenues. One way to measure a country’s VAT efficiency is the VAT Gap.
4 min readDespite the potential of consumption taxes as a neutral and efficient source of tax revenues, many governments have implemented policies that are unduly complex and have poorly designed tax bases that exclude many goods or services from taxation, or tax them at reduced rates.
40 min readMore than 140 countries worldwide—including all European countries—levy a Value-Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services.
4 min readWhile other countries in Europe are working towards introducing tax cuts and stimulating economic recovery by supporting business investment and employment, Spain is putting more fiscal pressure on households and businesses.
4 min readOur new guide identifies key areas for improvement in UK tax policy and provides recommendations that would support long-term growth without putting a dent in government revenues.
24 min readJust as COVID-19 is putting pressure on other sources of revenue, the loss of VAT revenues resulting from the crisis will force governments to evaluate their VAT systems.
3 min readBecause of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic crisis, countries in the Asia-Pacific region will see a differentiated impact on their capacity of mobilizing domestic revenue depending on the structure of their economy. According to the OECD report, those economies that rely mostly on natural resources, tourism, and trade taxes are especially vulnerable.
5 min readTax policy responses to the pandemic should be designed to provide immediate support while paving the way to recovery. A temporary VAT rate cut in the context of an inefficient VAT system is likely to deliver mixed results at best.
4 min readAlesina’s work suggests that raising taxes to reduce the federal deficit and national debt would be an economic mistake. The less economically damaging path is to cut spending, what some have called austerity policies.
3 min read