HC Deb 13 April 1981 vol 3 c11W
Mr. Dewar

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) the public expenditure to gross domestic product ratio, and (b) the total taxation to gross domestic product ratio, for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in 1978 and 1979.

Mr. Brittan

The table below gives information requested as far as it is available:

General Government expenditure † ‡ Total tax revenue (including social security contributions) †
1978 1978 1979(P)
United States 33.7 30.2 31.3
Canada 41.0 31.1 31.2
Japan 29.1 24.5* n/a
Germany 44.7 37.8 37.2
France 45.3 39.7 41.0
Italy 45.7 32.6 32.8
United Kingdom 43.3 34.5 33.8
Netherlands 56.3 46.8 47.2
Belgium 48.2 44.2 44.5
Denmark n/a 43.6 45.0
Ireland n/a 33.4 33.3
Sweden 61.5 53.5 52.9
Norway 52.7 46.9 46.7
New Zealand n/a 30.4 31.4
Austria n/a 41.4 41.2
Finland 39.6 36.5 35.1
Portugal n/a 26.2 25.9
Spain n/a 22.8 22.8
Switzerland n/a 31.5 31.5
P=Provisional.
* taxes and social security contributions as a percentage of gross national product at factor cost.
† as a percentage of gross domestic product at market prices.
‡ Expenditure by central and local government combined, excluding capital transfers, loans and expenditure on the acquisition of company securities, for which figures on an internationally comparable basis are not available.

Sources (Col 1) National accounts of OECD countries 1961–1978 Volume II

(Cols 2 and 3) CSO Economic Trends December 1980

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