Tax revenue

According to the OECD, a think-tank, tax revenue fell as a share of GDP in many of its mostly rich member countries last year. Across the group as a whole, taxes averaged an estimated 33.7% of GDP in 2009, down from 35.4% in 2007. With tax revenue amounting to just 24% of GDP, America was one of the most lightly taxed countries in the rich world. Among OECD countries, only emerging economies like Mexico collect a smaller share of GDP in taxes than America does. Even though its tax-to-GDP ratio has fallen in recent years, Denmark continues to mop up a larger share of its national income as taxes than any other country in the world. Taxes amounted to 48.2% of Danish GDP in 2009, down from 49.4% in 2000.