I put together some data I derived from a wiki page and created a map of tax revenues by GDP, which basically shows how much of their total income countries make from taxes.

Due to a social government structure, most European countries have the highest VAT, income tax, corporate tax and individual taxes on earth. Ultimately, Europe no longer has the natural resources it once cherished. Therefore, these countries now rely more on taxable income. An advantage to this system is that these governments have a reliable and stable cash flow. Obviously, the exemplary education and healthcare services in Scandinavia come at a cost. Most Europeans work for service industries and would have no reason to fear a huge change in the near future.

In the Middle East, since governments usually have no need for an external income, they apply very low tax rates and most of their income is based on exporting raw materials. Most countries here have almost zero taxes.

It makes sense for raw resource rich countries in the Middle East to be so relaxed. However, it is interesting to see that African countries are also not making much from taxes, whereas not all of them are rich in resources.