Band 6+: The table below gives information about the amount of tax collected ( as % of GDP) in five countries for 4 years between 1975 and 2005. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The table demonstrates the total tax gathered ( as % of GDP) in five different countries over 30 years from 1975 to 2005.

Overall, Sweden and the Usa, Japan witnessed an upward trend while Korea and Turkey saw a decline over the period. Additionally, Sweden has the highest GDP in the five countries from 1975 to 2005.

In 1975, the figure for the Swedish percentage reached 46%, then followed by the US at 25.1% and Japan at 15%. After 30 years, the total tax collected in Sweden rose rapidly almost one and a half times to 70.1%. That was the highest in the group which has the same trend. During this time, the figure for the GDP in Japan reported a good rise at 32.1% which means that Japan’s GDP was the second highest. Followed by the total of tax collected in the US at 27.4%.

As for the remaining, Korea and Turkey had fluctuating trends. In 1975, the percentage for the GDP in Turkey was not too much higher than the GDP in Korea, rapidly at 16.4% and 15.1%. In the next decade, the percentage for Korea’s GDP increased slightly to 27% before it fluctuated to 27.3% in the last period. Moreover, in 1985 the percentage for Turkey’s GDP went down to 15% before it climbed to 27.4% in 2005.