Brussels, 31/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - In 2003, the overall tax burden1 (i.e. the total amount of taxes and social security contributions) in the EU252 stood at 41.5% of GDP, compared with 41.3% in 2002. After an increase from 42.4% in 1998 to 42.9% in 1999, the taxto-GDP ratio declined steadily from 1999 to 2002. In all ten new Member States, the tax-to-GDP ratio was lower in 2003 than the EU15 average (41.8%). Among the Member States there were substantial differences in the total tax...