World Statistics Day - OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA)

On the United Nations' initiative, 20 October 2010, the world will celebrate the first World Statistics Day, to raise awarness of the many achievements of official statistics premised on the core values of service, professionalism and integrity.

Revenue Statistics

Data on government sector tax receipts and on taxes in particular are essential inputs to most structural economic descriptions and economic analyses of individual countries.   They are also increasingly used in international comparisons.

OECD Revenue Statistics is an annual publication describing a unique set of detailed and internationally comparable tax revenue data for all OECD member countries in a common format from 1965 onwards.  It also contains a conceptual framework defining which government receipts should be classified as tax revenues and how they should be classified between different types of taxes.

The 2009 edition includes a special feature defining 'Changes to the guidelines for attributing revenues to the different levels of government.

More on Revenue Statistics at www.oecd.org/ctp/revenuestats

Taxing wages

An OECD news release dated 11 May 2010 announced that Taxes on labour fell in most OECD member countries in 2009. This was based on an analysis of information published in the annual OECD Taxing Wages publication.

This provides information on income tax paid by workers and social security contributions levied on employees and their employers. The calculations also include family benefits paid as cash transfers. Data are provided for different income levels and household types. 

Results include the average and marginal effective tax burden on employees and the total labour costs of employers. 

The current edition includes a special feature assessing the impact of "non-tax compulsory payments"  as an additional burden on labour income.

It also includes a detailed analysis of the changes in the tax burden between 2000 and 2009 in a selection of OECD member countries [more detailed information].

More on taxing wages at www.oecd.org/ctp/taxingwages

Consumption Tax Trends

In this publication, the reader can find information about Value Added Tax (VAT) / Goods and Services Tax (GST) and excise duty rates in OECD member countries.
It provides information about indirect tax topics such as the international aspects of VAT/GST developments in OECD member countries and also for selected non-OECD economies.
 It also describes a range of taxation provisions in OECD countries such as the taxation of motor vehicles, tobacco and alcoholic beverages.
The 2008 edition's special feature describes the way VAT is implemented in three significant non-OECD economies - China, Russia and India.

More on Consumption Tax Trends

OECD Tax Database

This database provides details of tax rates and tax parameters for a range of different taxes in OECD member countries:

• Personal income tax
• Social Security Contributions
• Corporate and Capital income taxes
• Value Added Taxes (VAT) and other taxes on consumption

It also contains analyses of tax revenue data (OECD Revenue Statistics) and the tax burden on wage income (OECD Taxing Wages).

More on the OECD Tax Database at www.oecd.org/ctp/taxdatabase