BUDGET: UK should now have the most competitive tax rates in Europe – It doesn’t
Freed from the EU empire the UK could be the stand-out country in Europe for low taxes
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
Facts4EU analyses the latest figures from the OECD on the tax burdens across Europe
The full data on the tax burden for each country is always around two years behind. Following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget yesterday we present the official and latest OECD figures. These do not take into account the Chancellor’s measures announced yesterday.
The full effect of Mr Hunt’s announcements in his budget speech will not be calculated for some time, but the newly-independent UK is hardly the ‘Singapore-on-Thames’ predicted by Rejoiners. In 2022, after leaving the EU, the United Kingdom ranked 16th out of 38 OECD countries in terms of the tax-to-GDP ratio. The UK had a tax-to-GDP ratio of 35.3% compared with the OECD average of 34.0%.Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Tax to GDP ratio according to the OECD
- France : 46.1%
- Norway : 44.3%
- Austria : 43.1%
- Finland : 43.0%
- Italy : 42.9%
- Belgium : 42.4%
- Denmark : 41.9%
- Sweden : 41.3%
- Greece : 41.0%
- Germany : 39.3%
- Luxembourg : 38.6%
- Netherlands : 38.0%
- Spain : 37.5%
- Slovenia : 37.4%
- Portugal : 36.4%
- UNITED KINGDOM : 35.3%
- Poland : 35.2%
- Iceland : 34.9%
- Slovak Republic : 34.8%
- Japan (2021) : 34.1%
- OECD AVERAGE : 34.0%
- Czech Republic : 33.9%
- New Zealand : 33.8%
- Canada : 33.2%
- Hungary : 33.2%
- Israel : 32.9%
- Estonia : 32.8%
- Korea : 32.0%
- Lithuania : 31.9%
- Latvia : 30.2%
- Australia (2021) : 29.5%
- United States : 27.7%
- Switzerland : 27.2%
- Costa Rica : 25.5%
- Chile : 23.9%
- Ireland : 20.9%
- Türkiye : 20.8%
- Colombia : 19.7%
- Mexico : 16.9%
[Source : OECD, accessed 06 Mar 2024.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
Tax levels in 2022 – the global picture
Across OECD countries, tax-to-GDP ratios ranged from 16.9% in Mexico to 46.1% in France in 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, the OECD average tax-to-GDP ratio declined from 34.2% to 34.0%. In the UK it rose. Our nearest neighbour in most respects, Ireland, has a tax burden approximately one-third that of the UK. This is now under massive threat from the EU Commission. The UK has no such concern but tax rates are stubbornly high due to Government policy. Among the 21 countries where the tax-to-GDP ratio declined in 2022, the largest fall was in Denmark (5.5%), primarily due to a decline in income tax revenues. The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey also recorded declines in their tax-to-GDP ratio. The largest increase in 2022 in Europe was in Norway, where tax revenues rose by 1.9% as a result of exceptional profits in the energy sector.Observations
The simple fact is that we continue to be over-taxed in the UK
Yes, it could be far worse. We could all be living in President Macron’s France where the government trousers nearly 50% of GDP.
Nevertheless, if Brexit Britain is to take advantage of its new-found freedoms in so many areas, then the Budget was an opportunity to slash both personal and corporate taxes.
Chancellor Hunt chose not to do this, based on advice from the Office for Budget Responsibility – a body set up by ex-Chancellor George Osborne which has never come remotely close to giving any Chancellor an accurate forecast of the economic realities.
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[ Sources: OECD | Hansard ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 07 Mar 2024
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