Basing tax burden ratio calculations on total tax collections has caused temporal mismatch between total income and total tax revenue, leading to deviations from the actual tax burden ratios. To resolve this issue it is crucial to adopt an accrual-based approach for tax revenues. This study which argues that the variable of total accrued tax revenues should be used instead of total collected tax revenues in tax burden calculations, recalculated the tax burden ratio comparatively for Türkiye. United Kingdom and United States of America by eliminating the temporal mismatches in the tax burden ratio. Comparing accrual-based and collection-based tax burden ratios, this study identifies significant disparities. Due to the relative inefficiency in tax collection, Türkiye’s accrual-based tax burden ratio was found to be 15% higher than its collection-based counterpart. In contrast, this gap was observed to be significantly lower in the other examined countries. In conclusion, this research offered a methodological contribution to the tax burden literature and proposed decision-making processes grounded in more realistic tax burden calculations for policymakers.
Özgür Kızıltoprak (Tue,) studied this question.