ATHENS — Tax revenue in Greece eased slightly in 2019, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Thursday.

The OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics report found that the tax-to-GDP ratio in Greece decreased slightly by 0.2 percentage points from 38.9 pct in 2018 to 38.7 pct in 2019. The Paris-based organisation, in a report released on Thursday, said that between 2018 and 2019 the OECD average decreased from 33.9 pct to 33.8 pct. The tax-to-GDP ratio in Greece has increased from 33.4 pct in 2000 to 38.7 pct in 2019. Over the same period, the OECD average in 2019 was slightly above that in 2000 (33.8 pct compared with 33.3 pct). During that period the highest tax-to-GDP ratio in Greece was 38.9 pct in 2018, with the lowest being 30.5 pct in 2004.

Greece ranked 12th out of 37 OECD countries in terms of the tax-to-GDP ratio in 2019. In 2019, Greece had a tax-to-GDP ratio of 38.7 pct compared with the OECD average of 33.8 pct. In 2018, Greece was ranked 10th out of the 37 OECD countries in terms of the tax-to-GDP ratio.

The structure of tax receipts, based on source, is significantly different in Greece relative to the OECD average. In 2019, the biggest tax income source in Greece was tax on goods and services (VAT and other consumption taxes) which accounted for 15.3 pct of GDP, followed by social contributions (11.9 pct), income and capital taxes (8.3 pct) and property taxes (3.1 pct of GDP). On the contrary, the top tax income source in the OECD was income and capital taxes (11.5 pct of GDP), followed by taxes on goods and services (10.9 pct), social contributions (9.0 pct) and property taxes (1.9 pct of GDP).