Frequently asked questions:

How to Conduct a Search in the World Tax Database.

Three factors usually affect the search for data from the World Tax Database: location (e.g., which country), data type (e.g., top corporate tax rate), and time period (e.g., most recent year). Every search starts with a choice of one of ten locations. These locations are both geographic areas (e.g., North America) and collections of nations (e.g., All OECD Countries). Once a location is specified, select one or more sublocations (e.g., France, Japan, and India). Some countries will appear in more than one location. For example, the United States will appear in All OECD Countries, North America, and All G-8 Countries. The next step in the data search is the choice of one of three data types -- tax rates, tax revenues, and government expenditures. Within each of these types is a wide range of tax-related variables (e.g., top corporate tax rate, total income tax revenues, and education expenditures). Select a single variable within any data type. Perform multiple searches if information on different data types is desired (e.g., tax rates and tax revenues). After choosing a location, data type, and a variable of interest, the final step in the search process is to select the year or years of interest. If the variable selected is not in the database at this time, a message will appear indicating that no data is available and the final step of year selection will not occur.

Summary of search process:

Location > Sublocation(s) > Data Type > Variable > Year(s).

In what formats are these data available?

Data selected are displayed in your web browser and are also available in Microsoft Excel format.

Are there more data coming?

Our researchers are constantly updating the database and collecting new data. As new data is added, it will be listed in a “New Data” link.

Why does it take so long for the database to display my data request?

For most data searches the database will retrieve and display results in only a few seconds. However, the time it takes to retrieve your data will increase with the number of sublocations and years you have selected. Dividing up large searches into two or three smaller searches may save significant amounts of time. For example, if you want data on corporate tax rates for all countries in Latin America over the last thirty years it may save time to run three searches of ten years each instead of one large search.