Turkey’s tax revenue below OECD average

ISTANBUL

Tax revenue collection in Turkey slightly diminished at a time when a majority of foreign governments saw more tax income in 2012, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) results show.

The country’s tax revenues to GDP ratio was down by 0.1 percentage points to 27.8 percent in 2012 from 27.7 percent in 2011, well below the OECD average of 34.6 percent.

However, the country’s tax burden – the amount of tax levied on an individual or business – increased from 24.1 percent to 27.7 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to new OECD data in the annual Revenue Statistics report.

The country ranked 29th among the 34 member countries whereas Denmark ranked first, having the heaviest burden, and Mexico last, having the lightest burden.

Globally, the OECD figures show that the tax revenues in the majority of OECD countries increased in 2012 from levels in 2008 and 2009 when the economic crisis was in full swing.

“Tax revenues continue bouncing back from the low levels reported in almost all countries at the height of the global economic crisis during 2008 and 2009,” the report reads. The tax revenue to GDP ratio in OECD countries rose by an average of 0.5 percentage points to 34.6 percent in 2012, compared with 34.1 percent in 2011 and 33.8 percent in 2010.

 The ratio of tax revenues to GDP rose in 21 of the 30 member countries for which 2012 data is available, and fell in only 9 countries.