The Measurement of ‘Fiscal Burden’ on GDP instead of on National Net Value Added Produced: A Chapter in Fiscal Illusion

Abstract

The work calls attention to a major macroeconomic fiscal illusion: that arising from the current official practice of expressing the main fiscal indicators, and particularly the tax burden, as a percentage of GDP rather than NDPF (Net Domestic Product at Factor Costs). This methodology causes a systematic undervaluation of the tax burden, by something between 25% (Sweden and Austria) and 15% (Switzerland). Correctly measured, the tax burden in most European countries is above 50% and in the Nordic countries above 65%, or close to it! Thus, tax payers are deceived about the true cost and size of the public economy. GDP’s origin and widespread adoption is examined as well as the development of the notion of national income adopted to assess the tax burden.