This annual publication provides details of 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
received by workers. It illustrates how these taxes and benefits are calculated in
each member country and examines how they impact 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 average and marginal effective tax rates on labour costs for
eight different household types, which vary by income level and household composition
(single persons, single parents, one or two earner couples with or without children).
The average tax rates measure the part of gross wage earnings or labour costs taken
in tax and social security contributions, both before and after cash benefits, and
the marginal tax rates the part of a small increase of gross earnings or labour costs
that is paid in these levies.
Taxing Wages 2021 includes a special feature entitled: “Impact of COVID-19 on the
Tax Wedge in OECD Countries”.
Forthcoming, will be released on April 29, 2021Also available in: French
This brochure summarises the main results of this edition by:
Presenting an analysis of the average tax wedge in OECD countries in 2019, the changes from the previous year and the trends between 2000 and 2019 for a selection of household types that are covered in Taxing Wages 2020.
Presenting a brief analysis of the net personal average tax rate for a single average worker across OECD countries for 2019.
The brochure also presents the main results of the associated report on Taxing Wages in Selected Partner Economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa in 2018
Tax burden on labour income across OECD member countries The tax burdens on labour income that are measured by the tax wedge and the net personal average tax rates, vary from one to another country across the OECD. What was your country position among the OECD countries in 2019 and previous years?