Sources of Government Revenue in the OECD by Cristina Enache published by Tax Foundation (2/2021).
“In 2019, OECD countries raised on average one-third of their tax revenue through consumption taxes such as the Value-added Tax (VAT), making consumption taxes the most important revenue source.
Social insurance taxes and individual income taxes were the second and third most important sources of tax revenue in the OECD, at approximately 25 percent each. That’s a change from 1990, when individual income taxes accounted for more revenue than social insurance taxes.
On average, OECD countries collected little from the corporate income tax (9.6 percent) and property tax (5.6 percent).
When looking at OECD and non-OECD countries by region, Asia, Africa, and South America rely more on consumption taxes and corporate income taxes and less on income and social insurance taxes compared to the OECD average.
On average, OECD and non-OECD countries in North America rely more on corporate income taxes and “other taxes” than the OECD average and less on social insurance and individual taxes.
When looking at OECD and non-OECD countries by region, Asia, Africa, and South America rely more on consumption taxes and corporate income taxes and less on income and social insurance taxes compared to the OECD average.
On average, OECD and non-OECD countries in North America rely more on corporate income taxes and “other taxes” than the OECD average and less on social insurance and individual taxes.
Oceania doesn’t rely at all on social insurance taxes, while consumption taxes are the region’s most important revenue source.
On average, 16.1 percent of the total tax revenue collected by the 10 federal or fiscally decentralized OECD countries is raised at the regional or state level.”
Not all taxes are created equal published by Tax Foundation (2021)
There are better and worse ways to raise a dollar of revenue. That’s because no two taxes impact the economy the same.
One way to think about this is as a hierarchy: Which taxes are most and least harmful for long-term economic growth? This hierarchy is determined by which factors are most mobile, and thus most sensitive to high tax rates—in other words, what economic activities, if taxed, can easily be moved, reduced, or otherwise changed to avoid that tax?
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