Paying Taxes 2007 - The Global Picture
Complex tax systems cut tax revenues for government and make it very hard to assess the true tax burden on firms, according to a November 2006 report by the World Bank Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report presents quantitative indicators on the tax rates, payment frequency, and time to comply with taxes compared across 175 economies - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Top reformers are identified and best practices in how to reform tax regulations are highlighted. This report gives policymakers the ability to measure tax regulation performance in comparison to other countries, learn from global best practices, and prioritize reforms.
Note: New Paying Taxes report available
Where is it easy to pay taxes - and where not?*
| Easiest | Rank | Most difficult | Rank |
| Maldives | 1 | Bolivia | 166 |
| Ireland | 2 | Venezuela | 167 |
| Oman | 3 | China | 168 |
| United Arab Emirates | 4 | Algeria | 169 |
| Hong Kong, China | 5 | Congo, Rep. | 170 |
| Saudi Arabia | 6 | Central African Republic | 171 |
| Switzerland | 7 | Colombia | 172 |
| Singapore | 8 | Mauritania | 173 |
| St. Lucia | 9 | Ukraine | 174 |
| New Zealand | 10 | Belarus | 175 |
The report suggests that governments and industry can achieve a win-win situation by working together to help simplify tax systems and improve revenue collection. This is especially true in developing countries where much of the economy operates informally and tax evasion is a major problem. There is real scope for countries to learn from each other’s practices.
Points of interest:
Tax rates are lowest in the Middle East and North Africa and highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where a company on average pays over 60 percent of its profits as tax.
Complying with administrative tax requirements is a real burden for companies in most countries. On average in the 175 economies studied, businesses submit 35 pages of tax returns a year in order to comply with regulations. But there is significant variation between countries - in Cameroon, the average annual tax return for businesses is 172 pages, while in Austria it is 17.
Worldwide, it takes on average 332 hours per year for businesses to comply with all tax requirements. But this time ranges from 2,600 hours in Brazil to just 68 in Switzerland.
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