WHILE fiscal consolidation
was the key driver of tax reforms in the years following the global economic
crisis, the main emphasis of recent tax reforms has shifted back to tax
measures aimed at boosting economic growth, according to a new OECD report.
Tax Policy Reforms in the OECD provides an overview of the tax reforms that
were implemented, legislated or announced across the OECD in 2015. The report
– the first edition of a new annual monitoring exercise - identifies common
tax policy trends across the OECD.
Tax reforms launched in 2015 were largely focused on boosting growth and
were characterised by reductions in labour and corporate income taxes. This
represents a significant shift from the post-crisis period, where a stronger
focus on fiscal consolidation led governments to implement increases in labour
taxes and value-added tax (VAT) rates.
The report also shows a move in some countries towards higher taxes on personal
capital income, but only relatively limited moves toward reform of environmental
and property taxes. These are all areas where the OECD has previously identified
scope for governments to raise additional revenues while supporting inclusive
economic growth.
Major international developments in the area of taxation in 2015 are shown
to have influenced tax policy reforms across the OECD. Many of the reported
corporate income tax (CIT) and VAT reforms reflected the impact of the adoption
of the recommendations agreed upon as part of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and
Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and the endorsement of the OECD International
VAT/GST Guidelines.
Austria, Belgium, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain were the
countries that implemented, legislated or announced the most comprehensive
tax reforms in 2015, according to the report.
“Tax policies have direct implications on economic growth as well as on how
the benefits of growth are shared across the population,” said Pascal Saint-Amans,
director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. “Monitoring
tax policy reforms over time and understanding the context in which they
were undertaken is crucial to informing tax policy discussions and supporting
countries in the assessment and design of tax reforms.”
|