TIOL-DDT 1950 · Wednesday, 26 September 2012 · story 3 of 4

Lowest Tax costs in India - KPMG Study

A KPMG Study - Competitive Alternatives 2012 Special Report: Focus on Tax - reveals that the emerging markets offer more than just growth potential; they also offer some of the lowest tax costs. This study estimates that companies located in India pay about 50 percent less in tax costs than their peers in the United States. Indeed, of the five countries with the lowest total tax costs, four are emerging markets: India, China, Mexico and Russia.

The survey, which assesses the impact of all business taxes including corporate income taxes, capital taxes, sales taxes, property taxes and statutory labour costs, finds that a country's tax competitiveness is strongly related to how taxes are weighted and applied in different jurisdictions.

Among 14 major countries surveyed, outside of the emerging markets only Canada (ranked second), the United Kingdom (ranked sixth) and the Netherlands (ranked seventh) offer lower total tax costs than the United States. Higher tax costs seem to prevail in parts of Europe (Germany, Italy and France) and Asia Pacific (Australia and Japan). But Brazil stands out as an enigma: the country is widely recognized as a top emerging market, yet its total tax costs are around 43 percent higher than those of the United States.

Rank

Country

Total Tax
Index 2012

1

India

49.7

2

Canada

59.1

3

China

59.7

4

Mexico

63.6

5

Russia

71.7

6

United Kingdom

73.3

7

Netherlands

77.2

8

United States

100.0

9

Germany

122.0

10

Australia

125.1

11

Brazil

142.6

12

Japan

152.3

13

Italy

152.9

14

France

179.7

The Total Tax Burden varies from city to city in the same country. Chennai with a Total Tax Index of 46.4 tops 55 major cities of the world, while Mumbai with 53 ranks 4th. Paris with 187 is the most taxed city.