Paying Taxes 2013 : The Global Picture
The paying taxes indicators (the total tax rate, the time to comply and the number of payments) have now been part of the World Bank Group Doing Business project for eight years, monitoring the changes and reforms made to tax regimes around the world. The simple aim of the study is to supply business leaders and policy makers with robust data to enable tax systems to be compared on a like for like basis, and to help inform the dialogue which underlies the development of tax policy. The study is unique in that it now not only covers 185 economies, but it also provides an insight into how tax systems have developed over a significant period of time, using a consistent methodology. The author has focused on the trends that the Paying Taxes data show, both at the global level, and also by geographical region. Globally it is now easier for firms to pay taxes than eight years ago. Both the administrative burden and the average tax rates have decreased over this period. The studies for some time have shown a trend toward a lowering of corporate tax rates and a broadening of the tax base. In last year's publication the pace of reform continued but with an increasing focus on improving the administrative aspects of the tax system. This year's results are more complex; administrative reforms have continued, but the fall in average global tax rates seems to have stalled; this may indicate that tax rates are stabilizing as the pressure on public finances to grow.
Summary: | The paying taxes indicators (the total
tax rate, the time to comply and the number of payments)
have now been part of the World Bank Group Doing Business
project for eight years, monitoring the changes and reforms
made to tax regimes around the world. The simple aim of the
study is to supply business leaders and policy makers with
robust data to enable tax systems to be compared on a like
for like basis, and to help inform the dialogue which
underlies the development of tax policy. The study is unique
in that it now not only covers 185 economies, but it also
provides an insight into how tax systems have developed over
a significant period of time, using a consistent
methodology. The author has focused on the trends that the
Paying Taxes data show, both at the global level, and also
by geographical region. Globally it is now easier for firms
to pay taxes than eight years ago. Both the administrative
burden and the average tax rates have decreased over this
period. The studies for some time have shown a trend toward
a lowering of corporate tax rates and a broadening of the
tax base. In last year's publication the pace of reform
continued but with an increasing focus on improving the
administrative aspects of the tax system. This year's
results are more complex; administrative reforms have
continued, but the fall in average global tax rates seems to
have stalled; this may indicate that tax rates are
stabilizing as the pressure on public finances to grow. |
---|