The document is being prepared only for the second time. It includes data on 178 countries. The researchers studied the financial statements of a medium-sized company and reduced the data to three indicators: the number of tax payments, the time required to pay taxes, and the cost of taxes.
The report contains several rankings at once. One of them takes into account the number of taxes payable in a given country. According to the study, the most burdened in this sense are residents of Ukraine - there are 99 different taxes, Uzbekistan - 118, and Belarus - 124. As the authors of the report note, the number of taxes and paperwork for processing payments established in the republic is 'staggering': ten taxes requiring monthly payments, and one paid quarterly. Russia, with its 22 taxes, confidently occupies 58th place as a middle-of-the-pack in this fiscal hit parade. As for the leaders that do not heavily burden business and citizens with a variety of fees, their indicator is an order of magnitude lower than ours. For example, Hong Kong has only four taxes, Sweden two, and the Maldives, which rightfully takes first place in this list, has only one.
It is worth noting that this island nation also leads in another, perhaps the most interesting ranking. Different countries are ranked according to the exact number of hours their residents spend on paying all fees. This applies, of course, not only to individuals but also to legal entities. So, the average Maldivian takes no more than an hour to do it all. Citizens of the United Arab Emirates spend 12 hours a year on fiscal matters. The time costs of Russians are strikingly different: to 'sleep peacefully', they need to spend at least 448 hours. And that's not bad, especially when compared with Ukraine, where citizens and organizations spend up to 2,085 hours on honest settlements with the state. The absolute record holders in this category are Brazilians, who spend 2,600 hours paying all taxes. Based on 365 24-hour days in a year, a simple calculation shows that almost a third of the year, that is, four months, Brazilians are busy paying taxes. By the way, in the Maldives it takes only an hour.
Compiling another ranking, the researchers found out what percentage of what the population and companies receive they give to the treasury. The leader here is another island. In Vanuatu, the state gets no more than 8.4% of income. The second honorable place in this list is again taken by the Maldives, where 9.1% is deducted for the needs of the country. The tax burden in Russia, like most other indicators, is at an average level and amounts to 51.4% (in Ukraine it is even higher - 57.3%).
However, looking at the colossal levies in Sierra Leone and Gambia, where taxes take up 233.5% and 286.7% respectively, one feels a reason for pride. Of course, there businesses and citizens do not pay the state three times more than they earn. It's just that taxation takes into account both income, expenses, and company turnover, and all together gives such monstrous indicators.