Taiwan’s tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 14.7 percent last year, a 0.1 percentage point increase from the previous year and the highest in 26 years, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.
The tax-to-GDP ratio gauges the proportion of a nation’s total output collected by the government through taxation and indicates the degree to which a government controls resources.
Taiwan’s ratio has hovered between 11 and 14 percent since 2000, after reaching an average of 16.5 percent from the 1980s to the 1990s, ministry data showed.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Last year’s figure surpassed Singapore’s 13.7 percent, but was lower than the US’ 19.1 percent, South Korea’s 20.4 percent and Japan’s 21.2 percent, the ministry said in a report, adding that the figure ranges from 20 percent to 44 percent for European countries.
The average tax burden per capita last year was estimated at NT$159,348 (US$4,876), a NT$11,478 increase from the previous year and a new record high, it said.
Boosted by stable economic growth, wage increases and rising stock market turnover, total tax revenues collected last year were NT$3.73 trillion, a record high, and exceeded the government’s budgeted amount by NT$497.2 billion, the ministry said.
Including social security contributions, tax-to-GDP ratio stood at 20.5 percent last year, still lower than the US’ 25.2 percent, South Korea’s 28.9 percent, Japan’s 34.4 percent, Germany’s 38.1 percent and France’s 43.8 percent, it said.
Social security contributions, including labor and health insurance, have continued to rise in the past few years to comply with global trends. It reached NT$1.39 trillion last year, an increase of NT$37.3 billion, or 2.8 percent, compared with 2023, the ministry said.
From 2013 to 2023, the tax-to-GDP ratio including social security contributions had increased in 14 of the 20 major countries, and the average growth of 2.3 percent in Taiwan over that period was a mild increase compared with others, it said.
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