A Comparative Study of Tax Structures of BRICS Countries

Abstract

Government of a country imposes various types of tax structures to collect revenue from public. The economic environment of a country is also affected by tax structure of a nation. The present study is an attempt to understand the tax structure of BRICS countries, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The comparison is made by comparing the performance of businesses of BRICS countries on the basis of various tax related parameters such as tax revenue-GDP ratio, number of tax payments, time taken in tax compliances, profit tax paid by businesses in their countries, labor tax and contributions paid by businesses in their respective countries, other taxes paid by businesses to government, total tax rate imposed by countries on businesses etc. In this study it is found that India stands far behind as compared to other BRICS nations in most of these parameters. The study recommends further reforms in Indian tax structure so as to remain competitive with other BRICS members.