
It is also important to note that the tax burden on families is often lower than the burden on single, childless workers earning the same pretax income.Īs noted in our primer 3 on the tax wedge on labor, there is a negative relationship between the tax wedge and employment. However, the average worker does not necessarily escape from being burdened by these taxes. In many countries, taxes are progressive, which means that higher-income workers are taxed at higher rates. After accounting for VAT and sales taxes, which reduce the purchasing power of earnings, the OECD average tax wedge was 40.1 percent in 2020. The most recent data available shows that, on average, single workers with no children, earning a nation’s average wage in the OECD, faced a tax burden from income and payroll taxes of 34.6 percent in 2020. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports data on the composition of the tax burden on labor across 37 developed countries. These taxes combined make up the tax burden on labor both by taxing wages directly and through the tax burden on wages used for consumption.

Individual income taxes, payroll taxes, and consumption taxes like value-added taxes (VAT) make up a large portion of many countries’ tax revenue.



COVID-19 Support Measures Had Little Impact on the Tax Burden.Most Notable Changes in the Tax Burden since 2000.- Comparing a Single Worker with No Children to a Married Worker with Two Children.- The Economic Incidence of Payroll Taxes.
