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).

本数据集呈现了欧洲及美洲31个国家1800年（或独立年份）至2012年期间的历史中央政府财政收入信息。纳入的国家包括：阿根廷、澳大利亚、奥地利、比利时、玻利维亚、巴西、加拿大、智利、哥伦比亚、丹麦、厄瓜多尔、芬兰、法国、德国（1949-1990年为西德）、爱尔兰、意大利、日本、墨西哥、新西兰、挪威、巴拉圭、秘鲁、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典、瑞士、荷兰、英国、美国、乌拉圭及委内瑞拉。换言之，该数据集包含南美洲、北美洲及西欧所有人口超百万的国家，以及澳大利亚、新西兰、日本和墨西哥。

本数据集涵盖中央政府公共财政状况相关信息。为实现跨国可比性，我们采用两种方式对名义收入数据进行标准化处理：（i）占总预算的比例；（ii）占国内生产总值（gross domestic product, GDP）总额的比例。中央政府总税收收入的分类拆解遵循国际货币基金组织（International Monetary Fund, IMF）《2001年政府财政统计手册》（Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001）的规范，该手册提供收入类型的分类框架，并详细描述各分类类别的具体内容。鉴于详细历史数据的匮乏及项目需求，我们合并了部分子类别：首先关注总税收收入（centaxtot），以及直接税（centaxdirectsh）和间接税（centaxindirectsh）占总收入的比例；其次，直接税划分为财产税（centaxpropertysh）与所得税（centaxincomesh）两个子类别，间接税则细分为货物税（centaxexcisesh）、消费税（centaxconssh）和关税（centaxcustomssh）。

数据集用途：
本数据集呈现了欧洲及美洲31个国家1800年（或独立年份）至2012年期间的历史中央政府财政收入信息。纳入的国家包括：阿根廷、澳大利亚、奥地利、比利时、玻利维亚、巴西、加拿大、智利、哥伦比亚、丹麦、厄瓜多尔、芬兰、法国、德国（1949-1990年为西德）、爱尔兰、意大利、日本、墨西哥、新西兰、挪威、巴拉圭、秘鲁、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典、瑞士、荷兰、英国、美国、乌拉圭及委内瑞拉。换言之，该数据集包含南美洲、北美洲及西欧所有人口超百万的国家，以及澳大利亚、新西兰、日本和墨西哥。

本数据集涵盖中央政府公共财政状况相关信息。为实现跨国可比性，我们采用两种方式对名义收入数据进行标准化处理：（i）占总预算的比例；（ii）占国内生产总值（gross domestic product, GDP）总额的比例。中央政府总税收收入的分类拆解遵循国际货币基金组织（International Monetary Fund, IMF）《2001年政府财政统计手册》（Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001）的规范，该手册提供收入类型的分类框架，并详细描述各分类类别的具体内容。鉴于详细历史数据的匮乏及项目需求，我们合并了部分子类别：首先关注总税收收入（centaxtot），以及直接税（centaxdirectsh）和间接税（centaxindirectsh）占总收入的比例；其次，直接税划分为财产税（centaxpropertysh）与所得税（centaxincomesh）两个子类别，间接税则细分为货物税（centaxexcisesh）、消费税（centaxconssh）和关税（centaxcustomssh）。