The Relationship Between the Tax Burden and Financing Public Services: A Comparison of Ukraine and European Countries

Abstract

The strategy of reforming the country’s tax system should consider the real effect that taxpayers receive in response to their tax payments, that is, the level of financing public services. The article formalizes the links between the tax burden and financing public services since multifactor dependencies using the panel regression method with fixed effects for Ukraine and 10 countries – its tax competitors (Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Moldova, Serbia). Based on the calculations, it was found that the existing level of tax burden in Ukraine is overstated, while the optimal level in 2012 was: 1) the total tax burden – 14.39-18.09% of GDP; 2) the burden on legal entities – 45.99-48.32% of the profits of enterprises; 3) the burden on individuals – 11.92-28.75% of wages. These values correspond to the actual amounts of government spendings on financing public services.