The OECD has published the current year edition of Taxing Wages. The overall conclusion is one of a small reduction in taxes on individual wage earners in 2008. Given the fiscal stimulus packages in numerous countries since the beginning of 2009, this information has more historical value than current relevance.

For a single-earner married couple with two children on average earnings, the tax burden increased by 3.4 percentage points to 5.5% in Ireland in 2008. With the changes announced in the Supplementary Budget, this figure is going to increase substantially for 2009.

Further information on Taxing Wages is available at
http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,3343,en_2649_37427_42723335_1_1_1_1,00.html.