The paying taxes indicators (the totaltax rate, the time to comply and the number of payments)have now been part of the World Bank Group Doing Businessproject for eight years, monitoring the changes and reformsmade to tax regimes around the world. The simple aim of thestudy is to supply business leaders and policy makers withrobust data to enable tax systems to be compared on a likefor like basis, and to help inform the dialogue whichunderlies the development of tax policy. The study is uniquein that it now not only covers 185 economies, but it alsoprovides an insight into how tax systems have developed overa significant period of time, using a consistentmethodology. The author has focused on the trends that thePaying Taxes data show, both at the global level, and alsoby geographical region. Globally it is now easier for firmsto pay taxes than eight years ago. Both the administrativeburden and the average tax rates have decreased over thisperiod. The studies for some time have shown a trend towarda lowering of corporate tax rates and a broadening of thetax base. In last year's publication the pace of reformcontinued but with an increasing focus on improving theadministrative aspects of the tax system. This year'sresults are more complex; administrative reforms havecontinued, but the fall in average global tax rates seems tohave stalled; this may indicate that tax rates arestabilizing as the pressure on public finances to grow.
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