In the latest annual report on tax collection published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Chile stood out as the country where the tax burden decreased the most in relative terms during 2023. The country’s taxation fell to 20.6% of GDP, which positioned it as the second member of the organization with the lowest level of taxes and contributions, only above Mexico, which registered 17.7% of GDP.
The decrease of 3.2 percentage points in the Chilean fiscal peso was mainly due to a significant drop in income from taxes on the income and profits of companies. According to the analysis, the decline reflects the weakness in certain economic sectors and the need to review fiscal policies to prevent this phenomenon from affecting the sustainability of public finances.
The trend in the rest of the OECD countries
The Chilean case was not isolated, since South Korea also recorded a notable drop in its tax burden, with a decrease of 3.1 percentage points of GDP. In their case, the main reasons were the reduction in taxes corporate, on income and on goods and services. At a general level, the OECD observed a slight decrease in average taxation, which went from 34% of GDP in 2022 to 33.9% in 2023.
In contrast, other countries experienced an increase in their tax collection. Luxembourg, for example, led the increase with a rise of 2.7 percentage points, reaching a tax burden of 40.9% of GDP thanks to growth in tax revenues. taxes on income and social contributions. This country is part of a select group of OECD members, such as France and Denmark, where taxation exceeds 40% of GDP.
Comparisons and the Mexican case
In Latin America, Colombia stood out for its tax increase of 2.6% of GDP, driven mainly by the increase in corporate tax collection. However, Mexico, despite a slight advance of 0.9 percentage points, remained the country with the lowest tax burden in the OECD.
