§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list, for all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries (a) public expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product, (b) taxation as a percentage of gross domestic product and (c) public sector employment as a percentage of the total work force.
§ Mr. BrittanThe total tax revenue and total outlays of general government, on OECD definitions, are as follows for 1980 as percentages of gross domestic product. Information is not available on public sector employment in OECD countries.
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Total* tax revenue Total† outlays of government Australia 30.9 34.1 Austria 41.3 48.5 Belgium 44.7 51.7 Canada 32.9 40.7 Denmark 45.7 56.0 Finland 35.3 38.2 France 42.6 46.2 Germany 37.4 46.9 Greece‡ 26.5 30.3 Iceland N/A N/A Ireland 36.7 N/A of supplementary measures support for selected public investment programmes carried out in 1980–81 and 1981–82, respectively, though the receipts themselves did not coincide precisely with the financial years to which they related. The following table shows the breakdown of supplementary measures receipts for the two years requested by my hon. Friend.
Total* tax revenue Total† outlays of government Italy 32.4 45.6 Japan 26.1 32.7 Luxembourg 45.8 60.2 Netherlands 46.2 62.5 New Zealand 31.7 N/A Norway 47.3 49.4 Portugal 29.8 N/A Spain 24.5 32.4 Sweden 49.6 65.7 Switzerland‡ 30.8 29.7 Turkey 19.1 N/A United Kingdom 36.1 44.6 United States 30.7 33.2 * Includes social security contributions. † Current expenditure, capital formation and net capital transfers. ‡ Current expenditure only. Sources:
OECD Revenue Statistics 1965–1981, table 3.
OECD Economic Outlook December 1982, table R8.