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Table of contents | Overview | International Comparisons | Information by country | Special Features | Methods & limitations | How to obtain this publication |
Related publications |
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ISBN Number:
978-92-64-09753-7
Publication Date:
25 April 2012
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Taxing Wages provides unique information on the taxes paid on wages in OECD countries. It covers personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees, social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by employers and cash benefits paid to in-work families. The purpose is to illustrate how these taxes and benefits are calculated in each member country and to examine how they impact on household incomes. The results also enable quantitative cross-country comparisons of labour cost levels and the overall tax and benefit position of single persons and families on different levels of earnings.
The publication shows this information for eight family types which vary by income level and household composition and the results reported include the average and marginal tax burdens for one and two earner families and the total labour costs of employers. These data are widely used in academic research and in the preparation of social and economic policy making.
The special feature in the current edition is entitled ‘Trends in personal income tax and social contributions schedules’.
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News Release
25/04/2012 The average tax burden on earnings in OECD countries continues to rise. (Also available in French)
Overview
International Comparisons
a. Tax Burden Trends 2000-2011
b. Country Details, 2011
c. Methodology and Limitations
Country Information
Special Feature: trends in personal income tax and employee social security contributions schedules
Methodology and Limitations
Table of contents extended version (PDF)
The key results in respect of tax burdens and of the tax ‘wedge’ between total labour costs and net take-home pay for eight illustrative family types on comparable levels of income for 2011 are summarised in the Overview Section. A commentary on a selection of the Overview tables and charts are available online. Please click on the link:
> > Read more and download the files.
This Section covers Part I and Part II of Taxing Wages and provides unique information for each of the OECD countries on the income taxes paid by workers, their social security contributions, the family benefits they receive in the form of cash transfers as well as the social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by their employers. It provides detailed results for 2011; definitive results for 2010 and discusses the changes between the two years; detailed results of the evolution of the tax burden between 2000 and 2011. Results reported include the marginal and average tax burden for eight different family types.
This Section provides a commentary that is based on Tables I.1-I.11 and Figures I.1-I.6 which show results on average and marginal tax burdens for 2011 for eight family types, characterised by
- different family status (single/married, 0-2 children)
- economic status (one-/two-earner household) and
- wage level (33 per cent, 67 per cent, 100 per cent and 167 per cent of annual gross wage earnings of an average worker).
Comments on a selection of theses tables are available online. Please click on the link:
> > Read more and download the files.
This commentary based on Tables I.12-I.22 focuses on the changes between 2010 and 2011 in tax burdens and marginal tax rates for two of the eight family types
- single employees without children at the average wage level (column 2 of the tables), and
- one-earner married families with two children at the average wage level (column 5 of the tables).
Comparing the columns 1, 3-4 and 6-8 of the tables would give the results for the remaining six family-types distinguished in this Report. Comments on a selection of theses tables are available online. Please click on the link:
> > Read more and download the files.
Tables II.1 to II.8. present the evolution of the tax burden and the tax ‘wedge’ between total labour costs and net take-home pay for the eight family types over the period 2000 to 2011.
Comments on a selection of theses tables are available online. Please click on the link:
> > Read more and download the files.
These country-specific Taxing Wages webpages contain downloadable data and charts describing the tax burden on wage income in each of the 34 OECD member countries in three sections:
- A comparison of the tax burden in each country with the OECD average; charts that show the change in the average and marginal tax wedge and net personal tax rate between 2000 and 2011 are also included.
- Links to charts that show the tax burden on labour income in 2011 for gross wage earnings between 50% and 250% of the average wage.
- A section on wage income tax reforms and changes in tax Burdens between 2000 and 2009 (Special Feature, Taxing Wages, 2010 edition).
The data is presented in a user-friendly way and is targeted at a broad audience (journalists, policymakers, academics, broader public).
The special feature of the 2011 edition of Taxing Wages looks at trends in statutory PIT rates, surtaxes and basic exemptions, the income thresholds where PIT and employee SSC rates apply, and the relationship between statutory, average and marginal personal income tax rates in OECD countries.
Special features included within previous editions of the Taxing Wages publication include:
- Non-tax Compulsory Payments as an Additional Burden on Labour Income (Publication 2010)
- Consumption Taxation as an Additional Burden on Labour Income (Publication 2009)
- Tax Reforms and Tax Burdens 2000-2006 (Publication 2008)
- The Tax Treatment of Minimum Wages (Publication 2007)
> > Read the special features and related working papers.
In reality the personal circumstances of taxpayers vary greatly. This Report therefore adopts a specific methodology to identify representative taxpayers and to calculate the amount of their taxes.
- The focus is on employees.
- It is assumed that their annual income from employment is equal to a given fraction of the average gross wage earnings of adult, fulltime workers in a broad range of industry sectors of each OECD economy.
- Additional assumptions are made regarding other relevant personal circumstances of these wage earners to enable their tax/benefit position to be determined.
Details on Methodology (PDF)
Details on Limitations (PDF)
Average earnings in national currency: Table II.10 years 2000 - 2011 (XLS)
Average earnings in US-Dollar using purchaising power parities: Table II.9 years 2000 - 2011 (XLS)
Sources for earning data: Annex table B.1 (PDF)
Related website
Benefits and Wages: OECD Indicators (www.oecd.org/els/social/workincentives)
www.oecd.org/ctp/taxingwages
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