Brussels, 21/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - There was little change in the tax burden in 2010 on the previous year, but there has been a large rise in VAT since 2008 and a further hike in 2012, along with higher company tax. These are the main findings of the 2012 report on tax trends in the EU, published on Monday 21 May by the European Commission.
The annual report unveils harmonised indicators comparing and contrasting tax systems and policies in the EU27, Iceland and Norway. This year's issue reports for the first time on inheritance tax which, along with VAT and green taxes, is being increasingly used by governments to raise income during the crisis because it has little downward impact on growth (less than 1.3% of GDP) and comes at a time when politicians want to shift the tax focus from labour to consumption (VAT) and fuel.
The 2012 report details an increase in tax rates on 2011 in the eurozone and EU27, varying widely from country to country. Income tax has increased on average in the EU27 from 37.5% to 38.1%, and from 42.2% to 43.2% in the eurozone, ranging between 56.6% in Sweden and 10% in Bulgaria in 2012. After a long period of low company tax, it has risen from 23.4% to 23.5% in the EU27 and from 23.5% to 25.9% in the eurozone, ranging from 36.1% in France to10% in Bulgaria. On average, VAT has increased from 20.7% to 21% in the EU27 (19.2% in the year 2000) and from 19.7% to 20% in the eurozone, ranging from 27% in Hungary to 15% in Luxembourg.
The same disparity by country and by factor can be observed in the tax burden (2010 data compared to 2009) with regard to each country and factors of production. This remained stable at 38.4% of GDP for the EU27 and shifted from 39% to 38.9% in the eurozone in 2010. It varies from 47% in Denmark to 27.1% in Lithuania. With regard to the different factors: - income tax ranged from 33.2% to 33.4% on average in the EU27 and from 33.5% to 34% in the eurozone, including 42.6% in Italy and 21.7% in Malta; - taxes on consumption ranged from 20.9% to 21.3% in the EU27 and from 20.5% to 20.7% in the eurozone, including 31.5% in Denmark and 14.6% in Spain; - taxes on capital ranged from 24.4% to 23.3% in the EU27 and from 24.8% to 23.7% in the eurozone. They stretched from between 37.2% in France to 6.8% in Lithuania.
Finally, revenue from inheritance tax varied sharply between member states in 2010 and included 4.2% of GDP in the United Kingdom to 0.4% in the Czech Republic. (FG/transl.fl)