UK Tax Burden Compared With the OECD

Key points from the graphic

• The UK’s tax burden reached its highest level in 70 years in 2024, but at about 35% of GDP it sits close to the OECD average.
• In the 2022 ranking of 36 OECD countries, the UK bar is 16th from the top, below Norway, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.
• The UK’s tax wedge on an average single worker has stayed below the OECD average since the early 2000s.
• The top 1% of income tax payers earn 13% of income and pay 28% of income tax.
• A scatter plot of tax against public spending puts the UK slightly above the trend line.

All figures are from the graphic, which cites the OECD and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

The UK tax burden chart in text

Title: The United Kingdom’s Record Tax Burden Is Not That High.

Intro: “In 2024, the United Kingdom reached its highest tax burden in 70 years. While this may sound alarming, it’s important to note that, in an international context, the UK’s tax levels are quite typical compared to other OECD countries and lower than those of similarly sized European economies. Over the past 20 years, the UK’s overall tax burden has closely tracked the OECD average. However, the Tax Wedge, the ratio between taxes paid by an average worker and their corresponding labor costs, has ran consistently, and notably, lower.”

Second panel heading: “Despite a growing overall tax burden, the average worker faces the lowest levels of direct taxation that they have in the last 50 years.” Text: “The top 1% earn 13% of all income and contribute 28% of all income tax. Despite the manifold issues linked to extreme inequality, taxing the extraordinary wealth amassed by the 1% (combined with increased VAT takings aided by high inflation) has subsidised the direct taxes of the average earner.”

Only the top 1% figures are printed; the other shares are our readings of the stacked bars against the 0 to 100 axis.

The Bottom Line: “Countries that spend more need to tax more. If the UK wants to improve public services, it will need to finance them accordingly. International comparisons reveal significant headroom to increase taxes, provided there is the political will to do so.” A scatter plot shows General Expenditure (% GDP) against Tax Burden (% GDP) for each country, with a rising trend line and the United Kingdom marked in red.

Footer: Data Sources: OECD (oecd.org/en/data.html), IFS (ifs.org.uk/taxlab). Visualisation by Dominic Brady.

What the OECD figures say

The OECD’s Revenue Statistics 2024 note on the UK puts its tax-to-GDP ratio at 35.4% in 2022 and 35.3% in 2023, against OECD averages of 34.0% and 33.9% [2]. The UK ranked 16th of 38 members in 2022, matching the position of the red bar, and 18th in 2023 [2]. Its ratio has risen from 32.7% in 2000, with a low of 31.1% in 2009 [2].

The OECD also notes how the UK raises its money: more than the average from taxes on personal income and on property, the same share from VAT, less from corporate tax and social security contributions, and nothing from payroll taxes [2].

A record by UK standards

The “highest in 70 years” claim compares the UK with its own past, not with other countries. The House of Commons Library reports that government receipts, a wider measure that includes non-tax income, came to around 40% of GDP in 2025/26, a level last seen consistently in the early 1980s, and have exceeded 37% of GDP every year since 2020/21 [3]. Income tax, National Insurance and VAT raised over half of the total [3].

So both points on the graphic can be true at once: the burden is high for the UK and middle of the table for the OECD.

Notes on this infographic

• The 2022 tax burden chart has 36 bars; the OECD has 38 members, so two countries are missing from the chart. The creator agreed with a reader that every bar should have been labelled [1].
• The OECD tax-to-GDP ratio (35.4% in 2022) and the UK receipts figure (around 40% of GDP) measure different things, so the numbers do not match each other [2][3].
• The x axis label “Year of Year” on the first chart is a Tableau default left in by mistake.
• The conclusion that the UK has “headroom” to raise taxes is the creator’s view; the graphic presents it as an argument.
• We have not checked the IFS figures for the top 1% shares.

Questions about the UK tax burden

What is the tax burden?

It is total tax revenue as a share of a country’s GDP. The OECD calls it the tax-to-GDP ratio and puts the UK at 35.3% in 2023 [2].

How high is tax in the UK?

High by the UK’s own history and close to average among rich countries. The UK’s tax-to-GDP ratio of 35.3% in 2023 was 1.4 points above the OECD average of 33.9% [2].

Where does the UK rank for tax in the OECD?

The UK ranked 16th of 38 OECD members for its tax-to-GDP ratio in 2022, at 35.4%, and 18th in 2023, at 35.3% [2]. The OECD averages in those years were 34.0% and 33.9% [2]. On the graphic's 2022 chart of 36 countries, the UK bar sits below Norway, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

How much income tax do the top 1% pay in the UK?

The top 1% of income tax payers earn 13% of all income and pay 28% of all income tax, according to the graphic, which cites the IFS. The bottom 50% earn about 24% of income and pay about 10% of income tax, based on readings of the stacked bars. Only the top 1% figures are printed on the chart, and the IFS figures behind them have not been checked.

Sources

1. Dominic Brady (u/Neat_Beyond1106), The UK tax burden in its international context [OC], r/dataisbeautiful. The creator’s post of this graphic.
2. OECD, Revenue Statistics 2024, the United Kingdom (country note).
3. House of Commons Library, Tax statistics, an overview (CBP-8513).

Last reviewed 30 October 2026