The abrupt rise in energy prices that put many homes and businesses in serious trouble in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the emergence of the pandemic, led many governments to take measures to alleviate the effects of this crisis, such as the VAT reduction on the energy supply bill. The adoption of these policies caused a decrease in the tax level in all the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
This is clear from a report published this Wednesday by the organization in which it is concluded that taxes represented 34% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the countries of this club last year, 0.15 percentage points less than in the previous exercise. This is the third drop in this ratio since the 2008 financial crisis after those recorded in 2017 (-0.6) and 2019 (-0.1).
Tax collection contracted in 21 of the member countries. In the case of Spain, where VAT was reduced on energy supplies and basic foods, the decrease was greater than that of the OECD as a whole, three tenths, although the average relationship between taxes and GDP was higher than the average, standing at 37.5%. In fact, the study indicates that it is one of the countries with the greatest growth in this ratio since 2010.
The list with the steepest declines is headed by Denmark, with a tax pressure 5.5 points lower than that recorded in 2021, although it remains one of the members with one of the highest tax-to-GDP ratios, of the 41.9%. On the opposite side of the scale is South Korea, with an increase in tax pressure of 2.2 points, to 32%, and Norway, of 1.8 points, to 44.3%.
While the countries in which taxes had a greater weight in relation to their wealth are France (46.1%), Norway (44.3%), Austria (43.1%), Italy (42.9%). , Belgium (42.4%) and Denmark (41.9%).
On the other hand, the report shows that revenue from excise taxes fell in relation to GDP in the vast majority of the OECD. "In some countries, especially in Europe, these declines were related to reductions in energy taxes, as well as lower demand for energy products," the report details. Value-added tax (VAT) revenue also declined relative to GDP in 19 countries, in part "due to policies to protect consumers from high energy and food prices."
The decrease in the collection of special taxes was offset, however, by the increase in income from corporate income taxes, which increased in more than three quarters of the club's countries, coinciding with the profits exceptional losses recorded by energy companies and the increase in profits in the agricultural sector.
