ECFIN's Effective Tax Rates. Properties and Comparaisons with other Tax Indicators.

This paper shows that, where the relative levels and general evolution of labour, capital and consumption tax rates are concerned, the conclusions drawn on the basis of ECFIN's rates are robust with respect to alternative definitions used by the OECD and by 'Structures of the Taxation Systems in the European Union'. As a general rule, divergences between the different approaches are either negligible or relatively small.This is particularly true in the case of labour and consumption taxes.