Countries by Taxes less subsidies on products (constant LCU)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

This metric measures the net fiscal position of taxes less subsidies on products for each country, expressed in constant local currency units (LCU). According to the source definition, taxes less subsidies on production includes taxes payable less subsidies receivable on goods or services produced as outputs including other taxes or subsidies on production such as those payable on the labour, machinery, buildings or other assets used in production. This indicator is expressed in constant prices, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time. Because values are in each country's own constant LCU rather than a common currency, cross-country comparisons reflect the scale of domestic fiscal systems relative to local price levels, not absolute economic size in a shared unit. Data covers 183 countries sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code NY.TAX.NIND.KN), with 99.5% of countries having data from the last seven years and 100% of datapoints classified as official quality. The viability check identified 21 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the dataset spans a range from -5,320,000,000 to 2,386,920,789,945,300, a spread of over 44.8 billion percent.

Iran leads all 183 countries with a value of 2,386,920,789,945,300 constant LCU, more than four times the combined values of second-ranked Indonesia (555,692,500,000,000) and third-ranked Viet Nam (554,571,448,978,400). Korea, Rep. ranks fourth at 168,062,900,000,000 and Colombia fifth at 101,319,000,000,000. The top of the ranking is dominated by countries where LCU denomination is large by design, meaning nominal figures naturally reach very high absolute levels in local currency terms. Chile (rank 6, 20,642,733,474,300), Paraguay (rank 7, 18,926,291,889,741.8), and Uzbekistan (rank 8, 18,531,867,038,200) follow, all countries whose currencies have large nominal denominations relative to purchasing power, which amplifies constant LCU figures compared to countries using stronger-valued currencies.

The middle of the ranking includes several high-income European economies with comparatively modest constant LCU values: Germany ranks 53rd at 342,278,170,000, France 59th at 274,596,800,000, and the United Kingdom 64th at 241,010,407,000. These placements below many lower-income countries reflect the strong purchasing power of their currencies, which keeps LCU-denominated figures smaller in absolute terms. At the bottom, five countries record negative values, meaning subsidies exceed taxes on products: Timor-Leste (rank 179, -12,203,524.34), Brunei Darussalam (rank 180, -371,814,611.57), Oman (rank 181, -408,800,000), Kuwait (rank 182, -4,158,900,000), and Libya (rank 183, -5,320,000,000). Sudan ranks 178th with a recorded value of exactly 0. The presence of several Gulf states and resource-dependent economies at the bottom is directly visible in the data, as their negative net values indicate product subsidies outweigh taxes collected on products.

The primary limitation of this metric is that values are denominated in each country's own constant local currency unit, making direct cross-country comparison of absolute values unreliable as a measure of economic significance. A country with a high-denomination currency will mechanically rank higher than a country with a stronger-valued currency, regardless of the actual size of its tax-subsidy balance in real terms. The viability check flagged 21 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range of 44.8 billion percent signals that currency denomination differences, not fiscal policy differences alone, are a major driver of ranking position. Additionally, 88.5% of countries have data for the latest year (2024), meaning some values may reflect earlier observation years carried forward. Negative values indicate net subsidization but the metric does not distinguish between different subsidy types or tax instruments. Comparisons across income groups or regions should account for these structural currency-scale effects.

Methodology

Rankings are based on the World Bank World Development Indicators indicator NY.TAX.NIND.KN, Taxes less subsidies on products (constant LCU), with a reference data year of 2024. The source definition states: taxes less subsidies on production includes taxes payable less subsidies receivable on goods or services produced as outputs including other taxes or subsidies on production such as those payable on the labour, machinery, buildings or other assets used in production. This indicator is expressed in constant prices, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time. The dataset covers 183 countries, exceeding the 80-country coverage threshold. Of these, 182 out of 183 (99.5%) have data from the last seven years, and 88.5% have data specifically for 2024. All 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. The viability check identified 21 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 10.2%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from -5,320,000,000 to 2,386,920,789,945,300, a spread of over 44.8 billion percent, primarily attributable to differences in currency denomination across countries rather than differences in fiscal scale alone. Higher values are treated as better for ranking purposes, reflecting greater net tax collection on products relative to subsidies.

Sources

• World Bank