Denmark is the European country with the highest top statutory income tax rate as of 2024, with the Nordic country having a top taxation band of 55.9 percent. Other countries with high taxes on top earners included France, with a top rate of 55.4 percent, Austria, with a top rate of 55 percent, and Spain, with a top rate of 54 percent. Many countries in Europe have relatively high top income tax rates when compared with other regions globally, as these countries have relatively generous social systems funded by tax incomes. This is particularly the case in Western, Northern, and Central Europe, where the social state is generally stronger. On the other hand, formerly communist countries in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region tend to have lower top income tax rates, with Romania and Bulgaria having the lowest rates in Europe in 2024, with their top income tax brackets both being only 10 percent. These countries often have less well-developed social systems, as well as the fact that they must compete to retain their workers against other European countries with higher average wages. In spite of low-income taxes, these countries may take other deductions from employee's wages such as pension and healthcare payments, which may not be included in income taxation as in other European countries.

As of 2023, the average taxation rate for a single person without children who earned an average salary in the European Union was 29.67 percent of their total earnings. For a two-earner couple without children earning an average salary it was slightly less, at 29.57 percent, while for a single person without children earning 1.67 times the average salary, the rate of taxation in the EU was 35.16%. Having children greatly reduced the average rate of taxation, with a one-earner couple with two children in the EU only paying out 15.97 percent of their gross household earnings in taxes in 2023. Tax rates in Europe are generally quite high, due to the progressive income tax systems set in place during the 20th century in many countries, which require high taxation in order to fund generous social welfare systems. Belgium was the country with the highest average rates of taxation in 2023, with a high earning single person without children subject to pay almost half of their gross household earnings out in taxes. Other countries in North-western Europe such as Germany, Denmark, and Luxembourg also top the list for highest income taxation rates in Europe, while Cyprus was the country in Europe with the lowest average taxation rates in Europe during the same period. In both Czechia and Poland, single-earner families with two children actually saw the lowest average tax rates, due to the strong pronatalist policies in these countries and tax incentives for traditional single-earner households.

This dataset provides values for CORPORATE TAX RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

As of 2023, Malta had the highest corporate tax rate in Europe with a ceiling of 35 percent. Germany followed in second place with a maximum tax rate of 30 percent. Hungary, Montenegro, and the Isle of Man hold some of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe. This may change in 2024, however, as members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have agreed to set a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent.

Portugal had the highest combined corporate income tax rate in 2023, reaching 31.5 percent, and was followed by Germany with a rate of 29.94 percent. On the other hand, Hungary had the lowest combined corporate income tax rate, reaching just nine percent in 2023.

The Corporate Tax Rate in European Union stands at 21.20 percent. This dataset provides - European Union Corporate Tax Rate- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The country in the EU with the highest implicit taxation rate on labor income was Italy in 2022, with a rate of 43.5 percent, while Greece had the second highest rate at 42.4 percent. Bulgaria and Malta had the lowest rates of implicit taxes on labor income, at 24.9 percent and 25.8 percent respectively.

The country in the European Union with the highest implicit taxation rate on consumption was Denmark in 2022, with an implicit tax rate of 23.4%, while Hungary was the country with the second highest implicit tax rate at 22.9 percent. Spain was the EU country with the lowest implicit consumption tax rate, at 14.2 percent.

Finland had the highest tax on spirits of all alchol volumes in the European Union as of June 2024. One 0.7 liter bottle of spirits with an alcohol volume of 38 percent was taxed at 14.58 euros in Finland. In contrast, the same bottle of spirits would be taxed at just 1.49 euros in Bulgaria.

Approximately half of all tax revenues were generated by taxes on labor in the European Union in 2021, with an additional 27.5 percent coming from consumption taxes, and around a fifth coming from taxes on capital. Sweden, Germany, and Austria were the European countries which generated the greatest revenue from labor taxes, with these countries being prime exemplars of traditional European welfare states which apply highly progressive taxes - i.e. the more income a person earns, the higher the tax bracket they are in - to labor income in order to be able to fund transfers and social services. At the other end of the scale are countries such as Croatia and Bulgaria, which generate the most of their revenues from consumption taxes. These countries tend to have lower rates of income taxation on their citizens and less robust systems of social welfare, therefore, the government funds its activities more from taxes on the consumption of goods and services.

The average for 2021 based on 27 countries was 31.22 percent. The highest value was in Ireland: 53.03 percent and the lowest value was in Croatia: 7.51 percent. The indicator is available from 1972 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

One of the major challenges of empirical tax research is the identification and calculation of appropriate tax data. While there is consensus that average marginal tax rates are most suitable for studying the effects of tax policy on economic growth, because of data limitations the calculation of marginal tax rates has been limited to the USA and the UK. This paper provides calculations of average marginal tax rates for the four Scandinavian countries using the methodologies of Seater (1982, 1985) and Barro and Sahasakul (1983, 1986). Then, by pooling the newly calculated tax rates for the Scandinavian countries with the data for the USA and the UK, we investigate the effects of tax policy shocks on the per capita GDP growth rate. Our results suggest that an increase in average marginal tax rates has a negative impact on economic growth. Employing additive mixed panel models with penalized splines as estimation approach, we show that changes in tax rates have nonlinear effects. Increasing average marginal tax rates turn out to be the most distorting at relatively moderate tax rates.

The German Internet Panel (GIP) is an infrastructure project. The GIP serves to collect data about individual attitudes and preferences which are relevant for political and economic decision-making processes.

The questionnaire contains numerous experimental variations in the survey instruments. For further information, please refer to the study documentation.

Topics: European Union: opinion on gridlock compromise of the EU; internal political efficacy of the EU (good understanding and assessment of important EU political issues); external political efficacy of the EU (EU politicians care what ordinary people think); European Parliament Election vote intention; self-placement on European unification; placement of different parties on European unification (CDU/CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen, Die Linke); demand for abolition of the EU in case of lack of support for EU decisions; satisfaction with the EU.

Most important topic (open) for Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen (Split: CDU/CSU) overall and in the last election campaign; satisfaction with different areas of life (work, family and private life as well as work-life balance); daily hours for work, apprenticeship, studies (including commuting) or for children and care.

Right working time reduction: opinion on the union IGMetall´s demand for a right to a working time reduction (with partial wage compensation); willingness to reduce working time (with partial wage compensation); reasons for willingness to reduce working time; reasons against working time reduction; responsibility for reconciling work and family life (employees, employers, bargaining parties, state); support of the employers´ view (demands of the unions for a reduction of working hours with proportional wage compensation by employers would put too much strain on the German economy); occupational activity; spending preference with regard to pensions (the state should spend more or less money on pensions); reasons for the change of opinion compared to the answer from wave 33; spending preference with regard to the unemployed (the state should spend more or less money on supporting the unemployed); reasons for the change of opinion compared to the answer from wave 33.

Tax system in Germany - income tax: difficulties in filling out tax declaration; call for simplification of the income tax system in Germany; income tax system in need for reform; fairer distribution of income through tax deductions and allowances versus high income earners profit more from these tax deductions and allowances; preferred measures to simplify income tax (tax system with a uniform tax rate for all taxpayers, but without tax deductions and allowances or while maintaining the current tax deductions and allowances, tax system with higher tax rates for higher earners without deductions and allowances, tax system with pre-filled tax declaration, no change, other measure); preference for tax deduction for care of relatives; preference for tax deduction for substantial donations for charitable purposes; preference for commuting allowance; repetition of the call for simplification of the tax system due to its complexity; self-used tax deductions and/or allowances (maintenance of two households, home office, commuting allowance, other job-related expenditures (income-related expenses), pension expenses, education cost, care of relatives and care insurance, child allowances and/or childcare costs, donations for charitable purposes or political parties, others, no reductions (only the basic allowance and the flat-rate deductions); debt brake: year from which the Federal Government and the federal states should be able to get by without new debts; evaluation of the debt brake; probability that the federal state of the main residence will adhere to the debt brake from 2020; assessment of adherence to the debt brake by the own federal state if others do not adhere to the debt brake; federal state of the main residence is donor or recipient state.

Political issues: Satisfaction with democracy; satisfaction with the performance of the Federal Government; satisfaction with the performance of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag; satisfaction with the performance of Angela Merkel as Federal Chancellor; skalometer for Angela Merkel.

Demography: sex; age (year of birth, categorized); highest educational degree; highest professional qualification; marital status; household size; employment status; German citizenship; frequency of private Internet usage; federal state.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; household ID, GIP; person ID (within household); year of recruitment (2012, 2014); interview date; current online status; experimental variable.

Questionnaire evaluation (interesting, varied, relevant, long, difficult, too personal); overall evaluation of the survey; respondent made further comments on the questionnaire.

We analyze the effects of top tax rates on international migration of football players in 14 European countries since 1985. Both country case studies and multinomial regressions show evidence of strong mobility responses to tax rates, with an elasticity of the number of foreign (domestic) players to the net-of-tax rate around one (around 0.15). We also find evidence of sorting effects (low taxes attract highability players who displace low-ability players) and displacement effects (low taxes on foreigners displace domestic players). Those results can be rationalized in a simple model of migration and taxation with rigid labor demand.

The ratio of the top 20 percents' income to that of the bottom 20 percent of earners is a common way to measure income inequality. In the European Union, this ratio was 9.74 before taxes and 7.76 after taxes in 2023. Many European countries are known for their progressive taxation systems and strong social benefits, meaning that post-taxes and social transfers, their income inequality is much lower than what it is in gross terms. This is particularly the case for countries such as Germany, which has the fourth-highest gross income inequality between its highest earners and lowest earners, but has the ninth-highest inequality ratio when taxes and transfers are factored in. The country with the smallest disparity between high and low earners in Europe was Czechia in 2023, with a gross ratio of 5.09 and a net ratio of 4.45

Hungary had the highest standard VAT tax rate in the European Union in 2021, at 27 percent, with Croatia, Sweden and Denmark also having relatively high VAT tax rates of 25 percent. The EU member state with the lowest VAT rate in 2021 was Luxembourg, at 17 percent.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The massive expansion of the state in post-war Europe has rested on a greatly enlarged fiscal base, yet little is known about how that fiscal base has evolved. This is surprising in view of the fact that the questions of how governments get money, and from whom they get it, are seen to be two of the most important political issues faced in any modern political economy. While most studies of fiscal history try to provide answers to the first question by analyzing the ideological, political and administrative inputs to tax policy, the project's aim was to provide answers to the second question.

The project focused on the outcomes of tax policy; what different households across Western Europe have paid in taxes (income tax and social security contributions) at all points on the income scale since 1958. Since such information is not in the public domain we have used national tax rules and wage rates were used in order to infer what households with particular characteristics would have paid in direct taxes each year since 1958. Using the dynamic spreadsheet EuroPTax, details of the effective rates of income tax and social security contributions paid by different households in all the major European democracies since 1958 are provided for the first time as part of the project.


Main Topics:

The dynamic Excel spreadsheets, known as EuroPTax, enable the user to calculate the income tax at both national and local level as well as the social security contributions paid by a hypothetical household of a specified structure on a specified income, in one of nine different countries in Western Europe over the period 1958-2007. The countries included in EuroPTax are: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The calculations are derived from the national tax rules published by the following sources: HMSO (Board of Inland Revenue); Tolley's Income Tax; International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation; Coopers and Lybrand; OECD; and German Ministry of Finance. The wages used are multiples of the average production worker's wage found in National Year Books and in the International Labour Organisation. Social Security statistics are mainly derived from Social Security Programs throughout the world of the Social Security Administration of the United States Dept of Health Education and Welfare. In those countries where local taxation is levied, the rates used are the average for the country.

Europe’s Accounting and Auditing industry is well-established, with leading nations like the UK and Germany generating significant revenue, partly because of London and Frankfurt being major global financial hubs. Growing enterprise numbers and employment rates have expanded the potential client pool for accounting and auditing firms. Despite the industry providing both procyclical and countercyclical services, volatile economic conditions have caused some operational disruption. Revenue is expected to contract at a compound annual rate of 3% over the five years through 2024 to €225.6 billion, including a forecast dip of 2.6% in 2024. Audit failings and poor service quality have led to enhanced regulations – most notably the introduction of the EU Audit Reform in 2016, aimed at enhancing standards and promoting competition. The reform forces large companies to change auditors every 20 years, diversifying the market by pushing more companies to use firms other than the Big Four. The industry has also come up against challenges from economic headwinds, including the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and geopolitical tensions (especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict). Although these conditions have subdued business sentiment and dealmaking activity, revenue has benefitted from heightened demand for countercyclical services like cost-cutting and restructuring strategies. Strong competition and higher operational costs have forced firms to raise fees to protect revenue and profitability. Looking ahead, improving economic conditions will bolster business sentiment and investment and drive up M&A activity, fuelling demand for accounting, audit and tax consulting services. Revenue is forecast to expand at a compound annual rate of 3.7% over the five years through 2029 to €270.2 billion. A rising number of enterprises in Europe and solid employment rates will expand the potential client pool for firms. However, accountants and auditors will also have to navigate mounting digitalisation, a double-edged sword that presents both opportunities and threats. At one end, AI and automated solutions are helping reduce costs and free up time for the provision of value-added services. On the other hand, advanced software enables small businesses and individuals to carry out their own accounting and tax tasks, eating away at demand. Incidents of accounting scandals have amplified regulatory scrutiny, with plans for stricter regulations in the UK and potentially other countries.

As of 2022, Germany's total tax share for cigarettes was 64.4 percent of their retail price. This statistic displays WHO estimates of the total tax share of the most sold brand of cigarettes in EU countries, as of 2022.

This statistic reports the cigarette excise tax rate in selected European countries as of 2019*. Over the period of consideration, in Finland had the highest excise tax rate (68.06 percent). France came second with an excise tax rate on cigarettes of 65.78 percent. By contrast, among the countries taken into account, the cigarette excise tax rate in Norway was the lowest at 43.97 percent.