Administrative systems are generally organised into central and subnational levels. The subnational level typically includes at a minimum a local level and, in many cases including federal countries, a state level (or regional level). The degree of autonomy granted to subnational authorities in raising and spending resources varies across countries. In 2023, central governments collected an average of 53.2% of general government revenues across OECD countries. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom (91.8%), New Zealand (88.1%), and Norway (86.9%), tax collection in highly centralised. By contrast, 9 out of 36 countries also allocate significant taxing power to the state level. For example, in Canada, the Provinces collected 43% of general government revenues in 2023, more than the central government (37.4%). (Figure 16.7).
Local governments typically raise a smaller share of revenues compared to central and state governments. In 2023, they accounted for an average of 9.7% of general government revenues across OECD countries. However, in some countries, the local share was substantially higher: Korea (35.2%), Sweden (31.4%), and Denmark (27.8%) recorded the highest share of local tax collection (Figure 16.7).
Spending responsibilities for important public services are often associated with a higher share of local revenue collection in countries where local governments manage and deliver these services. This is reflected in Sweden and Denmark, where both local revenue collection and expenditure were relatively high in 2023, with local governments accounting for 64.3% of total public spending in Denmark and 50.7% in Sweden. Conversely, countries such as the United Kingdom (80.4%), New Zealand (87.8%) allocated most public expenditure to the central government, mirroring their similarly high levels of revenue collection shares at the central level (Figure 16.8).
Compared to 2019, a larger share of resources was collected at the central level of government in 2023 (Online Figure J.11.2). The share increased in 24 out of 36 countries and with 1.2 percentage points (p.p.) on average across all countries. Finland recorded an 8.2 p.p. increase in the share of revenue collected at the central level of government over the period that could be partially explained by the centralisation of the healthcare system. In contrast, the share of revenue collected at the local level of government decreased on average by 0.7 p.p. across OECD countries, while the relative share collected at the state level remained largely unchanged (+0.1 p.p.). Over the same period, central government expenditure shares increased by 2.6 p.p., with large increases in Poland (9.5 p.p.), Costa Rica (8.4 p.p.) and Italy (5.9 p.p.) (Online Figure J.11.3). In Poland, the increase of expenditure mainly come from raised health and defense spending (OECD, 2025).
