Austria’s Tax Structure in International Comparison – A Statistical and Economic Analysis

Walpurga Köhler-Töglhofer and Lukas Reiss ()
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Lukas Reiss: Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Economic Analysis Division

Monetary Policy & the Economy, 2011, issue 1, 21–40

Abstract: For several reasons, tax levels and structures are currently at the forefront of the economic policy debate in Austria. We aim to contribute to the scientific basis of this discussion by analyzing the specifics of the tax system in Austria. The meaningfulness of the overall tax rate as an indicator is limited, given that there are numerous options for financing market-related services and given that some economic or social policy goals can be achieved on the revenue or the expenditure side of the budget or both. The problems arising from these facts make it difficult to draw a meaningful international comparison of tax structures. The taxation of labor is above average in Austria, which can be only partly attributed to high social security contributions and the associated high government benefits for employees. Revenues from taxes on property and wealth are exceedingly low in an international comparison, reflecting above all Austria’s very low real property tax and below-average revenues from taxes on financial and property transactions.

Keywords: tax structure; overall tax ratio; national accounts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E01 H20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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