Recent literature has primarily focused on income taxes (personal and corporate -PIT and CIT, respectively) and value-added tax (VAT) rates due to their significant contribution to tax revenue in most countries (Vegh and Vuletin 2012; Vegh, et al 2017). These studies have made valuable contributions by constructing a comprehensive cross-country database that tracks the historical series of the top statutory tax rates for CIT, PIT, and VAT. Building upon these contributions and using this database, our analysis will concentrate on a sample of 33 countries, including 18 advanced economies and 15 developing economies, spanning a period of 40 years from 1980 to 2020. Additionally, we will extend the analysis to include other taxes, specifically focusing on the case of Argentina and updating the data whenever possible. However, it is crucial to interpret these results cautiously within the specific context of Argentina.

Argentina's tax structure deviates from international standards and theoretical recommendations, relying heavily on unconventional tax components that are more regressive and distortive. By 2021, Argentina's tax burden accounted for 29.1 percent of GDP ( **Figure 14** ), with nearly one-third (around 9.1 percent of GDP) coming from unconventional taxes, including financial transaction taxes, turnover taxes, taxes on foreign exchange purchases, and export duties.<sup>17</sup> In contrast to developing and advanced economies where VAT, CIT, and PIT make up a substantial portion of total tax revenue, in Argentina, they represent only 40 percent of the total tax revenue. Therefore, conducting standard tax rate cyclical tests on PIT, CIT, and VAT in Argentina may not provide as representative insights as in most other countries.

**Figure 14. Tax burden (as percent of GDP)** 40

**Figure 15. Selected tax rates (1990-2022)**

<!-- Start of picture text --> 34.1 40<br>35<br>1.4<br>30 29.1 Unconventional 35<br>Taxes<br>9.5 30<br>25 9.1 Social Security<br>25<br>20.6<br>20 2.5 20<br>9.8 VAT & Excise<br>5.2<br>15 4.3 15<br>10 8.5 8.0 Income & 10<br>Property<br>13.4 5<br>5<br>6.3 5.8 0<br>0<br>OECD ARG LAC VAT CIT PIT Export Duties Financial Transaction<br>1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021<br><!-- End of picture text --> _Source:_ Ministry of Economy and OECD stats. _Note: LAC excludes Argentina. Unconventional taxes in Argentina are represented by the turnover tax (ingresos brutos), financial transaction tax, export duties, tax on FX purchase, among others. Data refers to 2021 or closest._ _Source:_ Ministry of Economy. Note: Grey areas denote economic recessions.

In recent decades, Argentina has experienced limited changes in its top statutory income and value-added tax rates, while "emergency" taxes have become more prevalent and unstable. While VAT, CIT, and PIT top statutory rates have remained relatively stable since the 1990s ( **Figure 15** ), it is important to note that the current tax rate database may not fully capture all policy changes. For instance, modifications in income brackets, income tax floors, and lower marginal tax rates are not reflected in the database, making 17 These figures represent overall tax collection, regardless of the final destiny of those resources (central or subnational governments). Thus, these figures are different from those in the next section.