{"id":12803,"date":"2023-12-06T13:19:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T13:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxpolicy.org.uk\/?p=12803"},"modified":"2023-12-27T13:41:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T13:41:12","slug":"2023_oecd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/2023\/12\/06\/2023_oecd\/","title":{"rendered":"Has tax in the UK increased more than in other countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There&#8217;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/tax\/global-energy-crisis-and-government-responses-drive-a-significant-fall-in-tax-levels-in-oecd-countries.htm\">new OECD report<\/a> with tax data going up to 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart above shows that, whilst many countries saw a decline in tax revenues from 2021 to 2022, the UK saw a tax increase. However, the overall level of tax revenues in the UK, as a percentage of GDP, is very close to the OECD average. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That wasn&#8217;t always the case &#8211; in 1965 UK tax was relatively high by international standards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"513\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-11-1024x513.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12817\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-11-1024x513.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-11-768x385.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-11.png 1118w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, UK tax increased a bit, but other countries increased their tax by a <strong>lot<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1018\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12818\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-12.png 1018w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-12-768x424.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1018px) 100vw, 1018px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1990 it was much closer to the average (but higher than Spain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-13-1024x515.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-13-1024x515.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-13-768x386.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-13.png 1118w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And since 2000 we&#8217;ve been basically average:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-14-1024x515.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-14-1024x515.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-14-768x386.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-14.png 1118w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>How has the overall level of tax, as a % of GDP, changed from 2000 to 2022?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-15-1024x404.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-15-1024x404.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-15-768x303.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-15.png 1424w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s gone up, but not markedly so. (Quick note: I would ignore the Irish figures, because the GDP is artificially inflated by multinational profit-shifting, and the Norwegian figures, as the tax is dominated by oil\/gas revenues)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A similar picture if we look at developments since 2010:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-16-1024x515.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-16-1024x515.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-16-768x386.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-16.png 1118w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So it&#8217;s not true to say that UK tax has increased significantly, compared to the rest of the world, since 2010. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, more recently, it does seem that the UK has seen one of the largest tax increases in the world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-17-1024x515.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12824\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-17-1024x515.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-17-768x386.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-17.png 1118w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Important to remember the first chart at the top &#8211; these big increases are only taking us to very slightly above the OECD average. But if we wanted to tell a story about this, it might be that post-financial crisis many countries increased their tax levels significantly. Austerity UK did not&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-18-1024x515.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12825\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-18-1024x515.png 1024w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-18-768x386.png 768w, https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-18.png 1118w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230; and we&#8217;re now playing catch-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Important to remember this is 2022 data &#8211; the large recent UK tax rises (particularly fiscal drag) have yet to kick in (together with their equivalents in other countries).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a new OECD report with tax data going up to 2022. The chart above shows that, whilst many countries saw a decline in tax revenues from 2021 to 2022, the UK saw a tax increase. However, the overall level of tax revenues in the UK, as a percentage of GDP, is very close to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[224],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-06-at-12.54.53.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12803"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12826,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803\/revisions\/12826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heacham.neidles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}