The economic importance of the Asian-Pacific Region, India and Russia has risen significantly. Against this background, the objective of this study is to put forward reliable information on the effective tax burdens in the considered countries. Effective tax burdens are relevant for investors’ decisions on location, scale and mode of finance of a potential investment. The effective tax burdens for the Asian-Pacific Region, India and Russia will be compared to respective measures for the EU-Member States and the United States. The calculation of the effective tax levels will be based on the approach of Devereux/Griffith. Moreover the impact of taxes on attracting FDI flows to the considered countries will be analysed empirically.