For LawDog I found some info on tax burdens.
Note that there is a difference indicated in total tax burden and taxes on income but there is a strong trend. I apologize for the format and length.
From a OECD site
EU country
Effective Tax Burden
Nominal Tax Rate
Greece
27,25
35,00
Ireland
29,21
28,00
Sweden
30,63
31,60
Italy
30,93
44,19
Finland
31,43
31,60
UK
31,58
29,81
Denmark
37,74
37,30
Netherlands
38,43
38,25
Portugal
38,97
40,53
Belgium
40,97
43,16
Austria
41,13
37,30
Luxembourg
41,15
40,58
Germany
43,96
46,70
Spain
48,96
50,27
France
53,47
43,00
Thedata below is from:
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/stat/stats/06FNC33.html
International Comparison of Tax Burden Ratio (percent)
Tax Burden Ratio
Japan 1997 23.3
USA 1997 27.9
Germany 1997 30.1
France 1997 34.3
Italy 1996 35.7
UK 1996 36.2
Sweden 1996 54.4
Note:
Tax Burden Ratio:
Ratio of tax paid to Gross national Product
Source:
Annual Report on National Accounts
Economic Research Institute,
Economic Planning Agency
(Apr. 10, 2000)
3-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8970
Phone: +81-3-3581-0261
The data below are from
http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/stats/wages.htm#top_statistics
In most OECD countries, employers contribute significantly to financing the social security system. Based on 1998 data, the most recent for which final comparative figures are available (see Table 2), Poland shows the highest figure with employer contributions equivalent to 33% of the total cost of employing a single average production worker.
In Hungary, employer contributions accounted for 32% of the total cost of an average production worker, in France 28%, and in Belgium, Italy and the Czech Republic 26%. In Australia and New Zealand, by contrast, no social security contributions were levied on employers, while in Iceland and Denmark employer contributions amounted to only 4% and 1% respectively of the total cost of employing an average production worker.
On the employee side, the Netherlands shows the highest figure with employees paying the equivalent of 27% of the gross wage of an average production worker (see Table 1), or 23% of total labour costs including the employer's contribution. Germany came next, with employee contributions amounting to 21% of gross wages or 17% total labour costs. In Poland, New Zealand and Iceland, by contrast, the employee contribution was nil.
Factoring in the income tax levied on a single individual with earnings equivalent to those of an average production worker, the tax 'wedge' between total labour costs paid by the employer and the net take-home pay of the employee ranged from 15% of total labour costs in Korea and 20% in Japan and New Zealand, to 51% in Sweden, 52% in Hungary and Germany, and
57% in Belgium.
The wide variations reflect in part differences across countries in public sector involvement in the provision of economic and social programs, as captured by tax-to-GDP ratios reported in OECD Revenue Statistics. They also reflect different decisions taken on the appropriate level of personal taxation of wage income, and on the level and mix of desired contributions from
income tax and employee and employer social security contributions.
Taxing Wages contributes to policy debate by comparing how different OECD countries rely on personal taxation as a revenue source, and how this reliance has evolved over time. In Mexico, Korea, Greece and Japan, a single employee at the income level of the average production worker paid very little or no income tax in 1998, while in Denmark such an employee paid 34
per cent of gross wage earnings.
Significant variation is also observed in the mix of income tax and social security contributions levied, on the one hand, and the benefits paid through welfare programs, on the other. Taxing Wages details in country chapters and comparative tables and charts how much personal income tax and social security contributions employees and employers paid in 1998, and the level of cash benefits families received, at different levels of earned income. Preliminary figures are also provided for 1999. Comparative figures on taxes and cash benefits are given across OECD countries for different household groups varying by family type and level of income.
For one-earner couples at the average wage level with two dependent children, the gap between gross earnings and net take-home pay, taking into account cash benefits, was generally smaller than for single workers in 1998, and for certain countries significantly so. The gap was lower by half or more for a one-earner couple with two dependent children in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland. And in the Czech Republic, Iceland and Luxembourg, a system of cash benefits for children actually created a negative gap, with net take-home pay exceeding gross wage earnings (see Chart 1.)
"Taxing Wages, 1998-1999"
360 pages, bilingual, OECD Paris 2000
FF 450; US$ XX; DM XX; L XX; Y XX
ISBN 92-64-05878-8
Table 1. Income tax plus employee social security contributions1 (as % of gross wage), 1998
Country2
Income tax
Social security contributions
Total payment (including Employer)
Gross wage earnings
Denmark
34
10
43
32053
Belgium
28
14
42
30376
Canada
22
6
27
30200
Germany
21
21
42
29626
Australia
24
2
25
29590
Switzerland
10
12
22
29167
United States
18
8
26
29076
Norway
22
8
30
28098
Netherlands
7
27
34
27788
Luxembourg
12
13
25
27304
United Kingdom
17
8
25
26616
Japan
0
7
7
25788
New Zealand
20
0
20
24332
Italy
20
9
29
23981
Finland
28
8
35
23281
Austria
11
18
29
22640
Sweden
27
7
34
22377
Ireland
20
5
25
22024
Iceland
21
0
22
21622
Korea
2
5
6
20928
France
14
13
27
20307
Spain
14
6
20
18696
Turkey
24
9
33
14066
Greece
2
16
18
13973
Czech Republic
10
13
23
11689
Portugal
7
11
18
11235
Poland
16
0
16
8809
Mexico
0
3
3
6950
Hungary
17
12
29
6746
1. Single individual at the income level of the average production worker.
2. Countries ranked by decreasing gross wage earnings.
3. Due to rounding total may differ one percentage point from aggregate of columns for income tax and social security contributions.
4. Dollars with equal purchasing power.
Below is from :
http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/stats/employ.htm
Taxes and take home pay
The impact of wage taxes and benefits on workers' take-home pay in OECD countries varies widely, according to figures
published in the annual report on The Tax/Benefit Position of
Employees.
This annual publication details how much personal income tax and
social security contributions employees and employers pay at
comparable levels of work in different OECD countries. It also compares
the cash transfers (family benefits) that workers receive. The report
shows taxes and benefits for households by family type (single,
one-earner and two-earner households) at various wage levels.
Tax take from employees
Employee contributions to finance social security spending combine with
income tax help to explain the gap between gross and net wage
earnings. In 1997, for unmarried wage earners at average earnings in
Belgium, Denmark and Germany, payments of personal income tax and
employee social security contributions claimed more than 40 per cent of
annual gross wages. In Greece, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Poland and
Portugal this figure was below 20 per cent. In Iceland, for one-earner
couples with two young children, cash benefits for children exceed taxes
paid, resulting in a net payment from the government to the household.
Tax take from employers
In nearly all OECD countries, employers contribute substantially to
financing the social security system, with their total labour costs being
equal to gross wage earnings plus their social security contributions. It
follows that workers earn substantially higher wages than they are
usually aware of, because as a rule employer social security
contributions do not figure on pay slips, which typically only show the
amount of gross wage (total labour costs minus the employer's
contributions) and the net wage, or take-home pay.
Total tax take: The Wedge
Taxes on labour income drive a 'wedge' between what firms pay to hire
labour and what workers take home, thus pushing up the cost to
business of employing workers and at the same time discouraging part
of the work-force from taking a job. In 1997, the 'wedge' between total
labour costs to the employer and net take-home pay to workers, at
average earnings, ranged from a low 12 per cent of labour costs in Korea
and 21 per cent in Japan, to 52 per cent in Germany and Hungary and
57 per cent in Belgium. Differences in tax/GDP ratios and the varying
share of personal income tax and social security contributions in
national tax mixes go far to explain the wide variation in the size and
make-up of tax wedges on labour in OECD countries.
In Greece and Korea, employees at average earnings pay hardly any
income tax (2 per cent); in Denmark, by contrast, they pay 35 per cent.
Mexico shows a small negative tax payment because workers are
entitled to tax rebates. Employees' contributions to social security also
vary widely, ranging from 0 per cent in Iceland, New Zealand and Poland
to 33 per cent in the Netherlands. Employers, on the other hand, pay 33
per cent of total labour costs in social security contributions in Poland,
32 per cent in Hungary and Italy, and 29 per cent in France, while
employers in Australia and New Zealand are not subject to such taxes at
all.
