COMPARATIVE TAX BURDEN IN INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES

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December 2, 2011		2011-R-0430
COMPARATIVE TAX BURDEN IN INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES

By: Judith Lohman, Assistant Director

You asked for information comparing the total tax burden in the United States to that in other industrialized countries.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) compiles figures annually on the tax burdens in its 34 member countries. It calculates each country's average tax revenue as a proportion of its gross domestic product (GDP), a common measure of tax burden. The most recent year for which it published figures for all 34 countries is 2009. For 2010, as of the date of this report, it has published figures for 30 countries.

According to the OECD, Denmark and Sweden were the highest taxed countries in both 2009 and 2010. The United States ranked 32^nd of 34 for 2009 and 28^th of 30 for 2010.

OECD figures for 2009 and 2010 are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1: Tax Revenue as a Percentage of GDP

2009

Rank	Country	%
1	Denmark	48.09
2	Sweden	46.74
3	Italy	43.42
4	Belgium	43.17
5	Norway	42.90
6	Austria	42.67
7	Finland	42.61
8	France	42.36
9	Hungary	39.86
10	Netherlands	38.24
11	Luxembourg	37.64
12	Slovenia	37.38
13	Germany	37.33
14	Estonia	35.90
15	Czech Republic	34.67
16	United Kingdom	34.34
17	Iceland	33.89
18	Canada	32.01
19	Poland	31.77
20	New Zealand	31.50
21	Israel	31.37
22	Spain	30.65
23	Portugal	30.61
24	Greece	30.04
25	Switzerland	29.72
26	Slovak Republic	28.96
27	Ireland	27.80
28	Japan	26.93
29	Australia	25.94
30	Korea	25.53
31	Turkey	24.64
32	United States	24.12
33	Chile	18.39
34	Mexico	17.43

Source: OECD Revenue Statistics

Table 2: Tax Revenue as a Percentage of GDP

2010

Rank	Country	%
1	Denmark	48.19
2	Sweden	45.77
3	Belgium	43.77
4	Italy	42.99
5	France	42.86
6	Norway	42.82
7	Finland	42.14
8	Austria	41.98
9	Slovenia	37.73
10	Hungary	37.62
11	Luxembourg	36.67
12	Germany	36.31
13	Iceland	36.26
14	United Kingdom	35.04
15	Czech Republic	34.90
16	Estonia	33.95
17	Israel	32.38
18	Spain	31.70
19	New Zealand	31.30
20	Portugal	31.28
21	Canada	30.95
22	Greece	30.94
23	Switzerland	29.83
24	Slovak Republic	28.35
25	Ireland	27.99
26	Turkey	25.95
27	Korea	25.07
28	United States	24.83
29	Chile	20.88
30	Mexico	18.10

Source: OECD Revenue Statistics

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