Financing the State: Government Tax Revenue from 1800 to 2012
This dataset presents information on historical central government revenues for 31 countries in Europe and the Americas for the period from 1800 (or independence) to 2012. The countries included are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany (West Germany between 1949 and 1990), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In other words, the dataset includes all South American, North American, and Western European countries with a population of more than one million, plus Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Mexico. The dataset contains information on the public finances of central governments. To make such information comparable cross-nationally we have chosen to normalize nominal revenue figures in two ways: (i) as a share of the total budget, and (ii) as a share of total gross domestic product. The total tax revenue of the central state is disaggregated guided by the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which provides a classification of types of revenue, and describes in detail the contents of each classification category. Given the paucity of detailed historical data and the needs of our project, we combined some subcategories. First, we are interested in total tax revenue (centaxtot), as well as the shares of total revenue coming from direct (centaxdirectsh) and indirect (centaxindirectsh) taxes. Further, we measure two sub-categories of direct taxation, namely taxes on property (centaxpropertysh) and income (centaxincomesh). For indirect taxes, we separate excises (centaxexcisesh), consumption (centaxconssh), and customs(centaxcustomssh). For a more detailed description of the dataset and the coding process, see the codebook available in the .zip-file. Purpose: This dataset presents information on historical central government revenues for 31 countries in Europe and the Americas for the period from 1800 (or independence) to 2012. The countries included are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany (West Germany between 1949 and 1990), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In other words, the dataset includes all South American, North American, and Western European countries with a population of more than one million, plus Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Mexico. The dataset contains information on the public finances of central governments. To make such information comparable cross-nationally we have chosen to normalize nominal revenue figures in two ways: (i) as a share of the total budget, and (ii) as a share of total gross domestic product. The total tax revenue of the central state is disaggregated guided by the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which provides a classification of types of revenue, and describes in detail the contents of each classification category. Given the paucity of detailed historical data and the needs of our project, we combined some subcategories. First, we are interested in total tax revenue (centaxtot), as well as the shares of total revenue coming from direct (centaxdirectsh) and indirect (centaxindirectsh) taxes. Further, we measure two sub-categories of direct taxation, namely taxes on property (centaxpropertysh) and income (centaxincomesh). For indirect taxes, we separate excises (centaxexcisesh), consumption (centaxconssh), and customs(centaxcustomssh).
Brambor, Thomas and Johannes Lindvall. 2014. “Fiscal Capacity, Domestic Compensation, and Trade Policy: A Long Term View.” Working paper, Lund University
Andersson, Per. 2019. "Left-wing Tax Strategy Depends on the Electoral System". Working paper, Lund University
Andersson, Per F. 2018. “Democracy, Urbanization, and Tax Revenue.” Studies in Comparative International Development 53(1): 111-159.​
Brambor, Thomas. 2016. “Fiscal Capacity and the Enduring Legacy of the First Income Tax Law.” In ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops 2015.
Andersson, Per. 2019. "Fiscal Capacity in Non-Democratic States". Working paper, Lund University
Economic policy, public expenditure and revenue
Data on economic policy, including budget and fiscal policy, public expenditure and public revenue.
Use note: In addition to this broader topic, use another topic for historical data. Example: for data on the working environments of family doctors in the 1960s, use HISTORY and 'Working conditions' plus 'Health care services and policies'. Use the HISTORY topic on its own only if a more specific topic cannot be found in this vocabulary.
Political Science (Excluding Peace and Conflict Studies)