Taxing Wages 2017
This annual flagship publication provides details of taxes paid on wages in OECD countries. It covers personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees, social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by employers, and cash benefits received by in-work families. It illustrates how these taxes and benefits are calculated in each member country and examines how they impact household incomes. The results also enable quantitative cross-country comparisons of labour cost levels and the overall tax and benefit position of single persons and families on different levels of earnings. The publication shows average and marginal effective tax rates on labour costs for eight different household types, which vary by income level and household composition (single persons, single parents, one or two earner couples with or without children). The average tax rates measure the part of gross wage earnings or labour costs taken in tax and social security contributions, both before and after cash benefits, and the marginal tax rates the part of a small increase of gross earnings or labour costs that is paid in these levies.
Also available in: French
Executive summary
After falling during the financial crisis, the effective tax rate on the labour costs of the average worker increased by 1 percentage point between 2009 and 2013 before decreasing slightly over the last few years and reaching 36.0% on average in OECD countries in 2016. The effective tax rate, or tax wedge, as a percentage of labour costs, is measured by taking the total taxes and social security contributions (SSCs) paid by employees and employers, minus family benefits received as a proportion of the total labour costs for employers.
Also available in: French