OECD - Taxing Wages 2016

This annual publication provides details of taxes paid on wages in all 34 member countries of the OECD. The information contained in the Reportcovers the personal income tax and social security contributions paid by employees, the social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by their employers and cash benefits received byfamilies. The objective of the Report is to illustrate how personal income taxes, social security contributions and payroll taxes are calculated and to examine how these levies and cash familybenefits impact on net household incomes. The results also allow quantitative cross-country comparisons of labour cost levels and of the overall tax and benefit position of single persons andfamilies .

The Report shows the amounts of taxes, social security contributions, payroll taxes and cash benefitsfor eight family-types, which differ by income level and household composition. It also presents the resulting average and marginal tax rates. Average tax rates show that part of gross wageearnings or total labour costs which are taken in personal income taxes (before and after cash benefits), social security contributions and payroll taxes. Marginal tax rates show the part of anincrease of gross earnings or total labour costs that is paid in these levies .

The focus of the Report is thepresentation of new data on the tax/benefit position of employees in 2015. In addition, the new data is compared with corresponding data for the year 2014. It is important to note that, theaverage worker is designated as a full-time employee (including manual and non-manual) in either industry Sectors B-N inclusive with reference to the International Standard IndustrialClassification of All Economic Activities, Revision 4 (ISIC Rev. 4) or industry Sectors C-K inclusive with reference to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All EconomicActivities, Revision 3 (ISIC Rev. 3) .

The Report is structured as follows:

• contains an overview of the mainresults for 2015 .

• examines the tax burdens on second earners .

• reviews the main results for 2014, which are summarised in the comparative tables at the end of thechapter and compares them with the 2015 figures .

• ) focuses on the historical trends in the tax burden for the period 2000-15 .

• contains individual country tables specifying the wage levels considered and the associated tax burdens for eight separate family types, together with descriptions of each tax/benefit system .

• The Annex describes the methodology and its limitations .

The Report has been prepared under the auspices of the Working Party on Tax Policy Analysis and Tax Statistics of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs. This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The Views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union .