Highest implicit tax rates on labour in Italy, on consumption in Denmark and on capital in Cyprus
Labour taxes remain the largest source of tax revenue, representing close to half of total tax receipts in the EU27. Taxes on capital accounted for approximately 23% of total tax receipts, and consumption taxes for 28%.
The average implicit tax rate 4 on labour, a broad measure of the tax burden falling on work income, was unchanged in the EU27 at 34.4% in 2007 compared with 2006, after having declined steadily from 35.9% in 2000. Among the Member States, the implicit tax rate on labour ranged in 2007 from 20.1% in Malta, 24.0% in Cyprus and 25.7% in Ireland to 44.0% in Italy, 43.1% in Sweden and 42.3% in Belgium.
Continuing an upward trend that started in 2002, the average implicit tax rate on consumption in the EU27 increased marginally, from 22.0% in 2006 to 22.2% in 2007. Implicit tax rates on consumption were highest in 2007 in Denmark (33.7%), Sweden (27.8%) and Hungary (27.1%), and lowest in Greece (15.4%), Spain (15.9%) and Italy (17.1%).
In the EU27, the average implicit tax rate on capital for the Member States for which data are available was 28.7% in 2007 . The highest implicit tax rates on capital were recorded in Cyprus (50.5%), Denmark (44.9%) and the United Kingdom (42.7%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.3%), Lithuania (12.1%) and Latvia (14.6%).
• Details >>