Bhutan: Taxes on goods and services (% of industry and services value added)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, Bhutan's taxes on goods and services (% of industry and services value added) fell 0.83 percentage points on 2019 (from 7.43% to 6.6%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1990 to 2019), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.22 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2.45 percentage points in 2018 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.33 percentage points in 2001. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2020 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 8% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

Closest to Bhutan in the 2020 ranking

• Palau — 5th of 9: 7.81%
• Marshall Islands — 6th of 9: 7.22%
• St. Kitts and Nevis — 7th of 9: 7.13%
• Micronesia, Fed. Sts. — 9th of 9: 1.75%

What this measures

General taxes on goods and services are taxes levied on the production, leasing, delivery, sale, purchase or other change of ownership of a wide range of goods and the provision of a wide range of services. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of value added in industry and services which is the contribution to the economy by industries in ISIC (Rev. 3) divisions 05-43 and 50-99.

Limitations: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

All 38 values

Taxes on goods and services (% of industry and services value added) in nearby economies

• Bangladesh — 4.91% (2021)
• India — 4.2% (2022)
• Maldives — 13.75% (2021)
• Nepal — 9.57% (2023)
• Sri Lanka — 6% (2023)

More public sector data for Bhutan

• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (current LCU) — 11.71 billion (2020)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (% of GDP) — 6.43% (2020)
• Grants and other revenue (current LCU) — 32.2 billion (2020)
• Taxes on goods and services (current LCU) — 9.84 billion (2020)
• Customs and other import duties (current LCU) — 468 million (2020)
• Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) — 2.09% (2020)
• Taxes on international trade (current LCU) — 1.58 billion (2020)
• Tax revenue (current LCU) — 22.37 billion (2020)
• Tax revenue (% of GDP) — 12.28% (2020)
• Taxes on income, profits and capital gains (current LCU)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Bhutan's taxes on goods and services (% of industry and services value added)?

6.6% in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1982?

It is down 0.1 percentage points from 6.7% in 1982. The highest value was 9.07% in 1984 and the lowest 2.98% in 2004.

Is the latest change in taxes on goods and services (% of industry and services value added) unusual for Bhutan?

In 2020, Bhutan's taxes on goods and services (% of industry and services value added) fell 0.83 percentage points on 2019 (from 7.43% to 6.6%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1990 to 2019), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.22 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GC.TAX.GSRV.VA.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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