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OECD: Tax revenues in Asia and the Pacific hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis

Tax revenues in Asia and the Pacific fell by -1.2% of GDP to 19.1% of GDP on average in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new OECD report released today.

Revenue Statistics in Asia and the Pacific 2022 provides harmonised data on tax revenues for 28 economies in the region, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan for the first time. The report reveals that the average tax-to-GDP ratio in Asia-Pacific was 19.1% in 2020, lower than the averages for the OECD and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Between 2019 and 2020, tax-to-GDP ratios fell in 19 of the 26 economies for which 2020 data are available.

The first year of the pandemic amplified long-term declines in tax-to-GDP ratios across the region, which fell in 15 of the 26 economies between 2010 and 2020. The pandemic also widened the gap between the Asia-Pacific average and the averages for the OECD and the LAC region: the OECD’s average tax-to-GDP ratio increased by 0.1 percentage points (p.p.) to 33.5% between 2019 and 2020 while the average tax-to-GDP ratio in the LAC region declined by -0.8 p.p. to 21.9%.

Source OECD

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