By: Staff Writer
June 3, 2025
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in a recent report said that tax revenues fell by 21.3 percent between 2022 and 2023.
The report, Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025, said: In 2023, tax-to-GDP ratios in the LAC region ranged from 11.6 percent in Guyana…”
The report added: “Tax trends varied significantly across sub-regions, reflecting distinct economic pressures and shifts in commodity prices.
“Tax revenues declined strongly as a share of GDP (by 0.5 p.p.) in the South American sub-region, which was most affected by the fall in non-renewable natural resource prices and experienced the most pronounced economic slowdown in 2023.
“However, South America continued to record the highest level of tax revenues as a share of GDP on average, at 22.9 percent. The average tax-to-GDP ratios in the Caribbean and Central America and Mexico stood at 21.9 percent and 19.0 percent respectively in 2023.”
Tax revenues decreased by 0.2 p.p. in Central America and Mexico in 2023, while the Caribbean’s tax-to-GDP ratio increased by 0.3 p.p. after being the only sub-region where revenues fell as a share of GDP in 2022.
It also said: “Threequarters of LAC countries recorded a tax-to-GDP ratio below 25 percent whereas more than three-quarters of OECD countries had a ratio above this level.
“Tax-to-GDP ratios decreased in more than half of LAC countries (14 countries) between 2022 and 2023. In the previous two years, tax revenues increased as a share of GDP in a majority of countries. In all but three countries where the tax-to-GDP ratio declined in 2023, growth in nominal GDP outpaced growth in nominal tax revenues.”
The report also said: “Overall, income tax revenues declined by 0.1 p.p. on average across the LAC region in 2023, following an increase of 0.6 p.p. in 2022, when a sharp rise in hydrocarbon revenues drove up corporate income tax (CIT) receipts.
“Meanwhile, personal income tax (PIT) revenues increased by 0.1 p.p. in 2023 while revenues from VAT and other taxes on goods and services remained unchanged.”