Foreword
This is the fourteenth edition of Consumption Tax Trends, a biennial OECD publication. It presents cross-country comparative data on consumption taxes in OECD member countries, as at 1 January 2022.
Tables using data from the National Accounts and data on tax revenue from Revenue Statistics 2022 (OECD, 2022[1]) are updated up to and including 2020. Price levels for fuel oils are updated as at 1st Quarter 2022 from Energy Prices Database issued by the International Energy Agency. The country data for this publication have, for the most part, been provided by delegates to the Committee on Fiscal Affairs’ Working Party N°9 on Consumption Taxes.
The exchange rates used to convert national currencies into US dollars (USD) are average market rates for 2021 taken from the OECD Monetary and Financial Statistics, except for Annex Tables 3.A.6, 4.A.4 and 4.A.5 where market rates for 1st Quarter 2022 are used since fuel taxes data refer to that period. For Annex Table 3.A.5 market rates for 2020 are used since tobacco taxes data refer to that year. For Annex Tables 2.A.5 and 2.A.9 Purchase Power Parity (PPP) rates for GDP (2021) are used as they provide for a better comparison of the value of VAT relief thresholds. These exchange rates are available in Annex B to this publication.
This publication illustrates the evolution of consumption taxes as instruments for raising tax revenue and often also to pursue distributional objectives, support business activity and influence customer behaviour. It identifies and documents the large number of variations in the design and implementation of consumption tax regimes across OECD countries, including in respect of tax bases and rates.
Chapter 1 presents internationally comparable data on consumption tax revenues of OECD countries in 1965-2020, including a brief overview of the evolution of VAT and excise revenues during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also includes an overview of the main design features of value added taxes, retail sales taxes and excise duties. Chapter 2 describes the evolution of the key features of VAT regimes in OECD countries, including rates, exemptions, restrictions to input tax deduction, registration and collection thresholds, margin schemes, and the application of VAT to digital trade. It provides updated estimates of OECD countries’ VAT Revenue Ratio (VRR) as an indicator of the effect of exemptions, reduced rates and non-compliance on VAT revenues. It considers evolutions in countries’ strategies to counter VAT fraud and to enhance VAT compliance, including through digital reporting requirements, and the administrative co-operation in the area of VAT. Chapter 3 describes the main features of excise duties and their growing use as a tool to impact customer behaviour. It shows the detailed excise tax rates on beer, wine, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and household fuel in OECD countries. It also provides an estimate of the total tax burden in a pack of cigarettes in OECD countries. Chapter 4 describes the main features of vehicle taxes and their use for influencing customer behaviour. It provides detailed information on taxes on sale and registration and recurrent taxes on vehicles and on taxes of the main road fuels (i.e. unleaded gasoline and diesel). It finally provides information on the taxation of aviation fuels in OECD countries.
This publication was prepared under the auspices of the Working Party N°9 on Consumption Taxes of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs. It was written by Stéphane Buydens of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA) under the supervision of Piet Battiau, Head of the Consumption Taxes Unit in the CTPA.