Tax burden 1.3 percentage points above OECD average in 2020
According to OECD, the tax burden in Portugal, which was 34.8% in 2020, was above the average of the organisation's countries as a whole, which was 33.5%.
The tax burden in Portugal was 1.3 percentage points above the average of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries as a whole in 2020, according to a compilation released on Monday.
According to a statistical report on tax revenues released on Monday by the OECD, the tax burden in Portugal, which was 34.8% in 2020, was above the average of the organisation’s countries as a whole, which was 33.5%.
According to the OECD, the average 33.5% weight of tax revenues on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) represented an increase of 0.1 percentage points compared to 2019, and in Portugal, the increase was 0.3 points.
Changes in the tax burden are caused by relative changes in tax revenues, social contributions, and nominal GDP. From one year to the next, the tax burden increases if revenues grow more than GDP (or fall less than GDP).
On the other hand, if revenues grow less than GDP or fall more, the tax burden falls, explains the OECD.
In 2020, “the small increase in the average tax burden in the OECD occurred in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to widespread losses in both nominal tax revenues and nominal GDP”, with the reason for the losses attributed to the fact that “in most countries, GDP fell by more than nominal tax revenues”.
The report notes that Denmark had the highest tax burden in 2020 (46.5%), “and with the exceptions of 2017 and 2018, where France’s was higher, has had the highest tax burden of the OECD countries since 2002.”
“France had the second-highest tax burden in 2020 (45.4%). Mexico had the lowest tax burden (17.9%),” says the OECD compilation released this Monday, which notes that “the ratio of tax revenues to GDP compared to 2019 grew in 20 [countries] and decreased in 16.”
In Portugal, the tax burden was 30.4% in 2010, rising to 34.8% in 2020.
