#oecd

#oecd

Britain's tax wedge, which estimates total taxes on labour paid by employees and employers, minus cash benefits received by working households, increased by 2.45 percentage points last year, the most in the OECD.

Asked about the risk that personal information of Irish taxpayers and their properties could being misused or stolen after it is shared outside Ireland and outside the European Union, the Department of Finance said confidentiality safeguards in place between tax authorities and taxpayers remain and are not going to be removed, including in relation to GDPR. "Tax authorities globally must commit to respecting those safeguards if they wish to participate in these exchanges," the department said.

Economists have long warned that the upward climb has slowed to a near standstill. Now the OECD has provided figures that reinforce this perception: in Spain, more than a third of income inequality is determined by factors that do not depend on the individual, but rather on imposed or inherited circumstances such as gender, the parents' place of birth, or, above all, their socioeconomic background.

This means, and our data clearly shows this, that we need to make every dollar count. We've got to make sure that the money really hits the ground in the most effective way possible and that we leverage it as much as possible to draw in additional private resources.

Immediate and co-ordinated action across government agencies to anticipate, prevent, and adapt to evolving drought risk could help limit losses and damage, while enhancing the ability of communities and economies to withstand and recover from drought.

The OECD has lowered the UK economic growth forecast for 2026 from 1.2% to 1% due to heightened trade tensions and elevated uncertainty.

The findings of the OECD Steel Outlook 2025 show there is an urgent need to address growing excess capacity, and the distortionary policies driving it, to ensure well-functioning global steel markets.