Yes, it's more transparent. It does also mean, though, that it feels like you're taxed more, because e.g. in the UK, most people aren't aware that their employer pays 12.8% or whatever the current rate is, in employers national insurance contributions.

This does complicate cross-border comparisons in that if you're including payroll taxes when talking about the tax, you also need to add them to salaries to get comparable numbers.