The purpose of this annual publication is to provide internationally comparative data on tax levels and tax structures in member countries of the OECD. The taxes imposed in each country are presented in a standardised framework based upon the OECD classification of taxes and its Interpretative guide as contained in Annex A to this Report.

This annual Report seeks to present detailed internationally comparable data on the tax revenues of OECD countries for all strata of government. The present edition provides information on tax revenues in 1965-2006. In addition, revenue estimates for 2007 are included. For the purpose of this Report the term taxes’ is confined to compulsory, unrequited payments to general government. Taxes are unrequited in the sense that benefits provided by government to taxpayers are not normally in proportion to their payments. In the OECD classification, taxes are classified by the base of the tax: income and profits (heading 1000), payroll (heading 3000), property (heading 4000), consumption (heading 5000) and other taxes (heading 6000). Compulsory social security contributions paid to general government are treated as taxes, classified under heading 2000. Both the tax concept and the classification of taxes are set out in the Interpretative guide to the Revenue Statistics; see Annex A to this Report. 

The Revenue Statistics includes tables that report tax revenues by level of government. These tables show the amount of tax revenues that state and local governments receive but do not indicate the power of these sub-central governments (SCGs) to set the rates and bases of these taxes: their taxing power. The purpose of this special feature is to provide information on the taxing power of sub-central governments in the majority of OECD countries. This builds upon the methodology presented in a special feature in the 1999 edition of Revenue Statistics, which presented data for 1995. It provides more recent information of these taxing powers and presents an analysis of how they have changed since 1995.

In all of the following tables a dash (–) indicates zero, a blank space not available/or not applicable and (*) estimated. The main series in this volume covers years 1965 to 2006. Figures referring to 1966-1969, 1971-1974, 1976-1979, 1981-1984, 1986-1989, 1991-1994, 1996-1999 and 2001-2004 have been omitted because of lack of space. A complete series is, however, available on CD-ROM. Data for 1955 and 1960 (for nineteen OECD countries) are provided in part V of the 1998 edition of this Report.

The tax data presented in this part of the Report have been attributed to the sub-sectors of general government identified in section J of the Interpretative guide (see Annex A) and the attribution criteria used are those set out in that guide. The column “supranational” reports the customs duties collected by the fifteen EU member States on behalf of the European Union. 

Government current receipts, other than the proceeds of borrowing and repayments of previous government lending, comprise tax revenue, current non-tax revenue and grants. Up to the present page, this publication has provided data on tax revenue which for all countries provide the bulk of revenue. In this part summary information, on the basis of data collected by the International Monetary Fund, is provided on current non-tax revenue and grants in order to have a more complete view of the different ways in which OECD governments finance their expenditures.