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 burden. In 2003 Sweden (51.4%) recorded the highest tax-to-GDP ratio, followed by Denmark (49.8%), Belgium ( 48.1%), France (45.7%) and Finland (45. 1%). The lowest ratios were observed in Lithuania (28. 7%), Latvia (29.1%), Slovakia (30.9%), Ireland (31.2%) and Estonia (33.4%). In 2003 as compared with 200 2, the tax burden rose in seventeen Member States, fell in seven and remained stable in Germany. The highest increases in the tax-to-GDP ratio were recorded in Cyprus (from 32.5% to 34.3%), Ireland (from 29.8% to 31.2%) and Estonia (from 32.4% to 33.4%). The largest reductions were observed in Slovakia (from 32.5% to 30.9%), Greece (from 39.8% to 38.6%), and Finland (from 46.1% to 45.1%).
Looking at the different types of taxes4 reveals significant differences in the structure of taxation systems between the Member States. In 2003, Poland (19.7%), Slovenia (20.8%) and Slovakia (23.2%) recorded the lowest shares of direct taxes in the total tax burden, compared to the EU25 average of 31.6%. On the other hand, Denmark (59.6%), the United Kingdom (42.0%) and Finland (41.0%) had the highest shares of direct taxes. With regard to indirect taxes, Cyprus (49.4%), Hungary (42.3%) and Portugal ( 41.9%) recorded the highest shares compared to the EU25 average of 33.8%, while Belgium ( 28.8%), Germany ( 29.7%) and the Czech Republic (31.4%) registered the lowest shares. Regarding social contributions, the largest shares were observed in Germany (44.4%), the Czech Republic (41.6%) and France (40.2%) compared to the average of 34.5% for the EU25, whereas Denmark (5.4%), Ireland (19.1%) and the United Kingdom (21.0%) recorded the lowest shares of social security contributions.