(28 November 2018) – The overall tax-to-GDP ratio, meaning the sum of taxes and net social contributions as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, stood at 40.2% in the European Union in 2017, an increase compared with 2016 (39.9%).
.The tax-to-GDP ratio varies significantly between Member States, with the highest share of taxes and social contributions in percentage of GDP in 2017 being recorded in France (48.4%), Belgium (47.3%) and Denmark (46.5%), followed by Sweden (44.9%), Finland (43.4%), Austria and Italy (both 42.4%) as well as Greece (41.8%). At the opposite end of the scale, Ireland (23.5%) and Romania (25.8%), ahead of Bulgaria (29.5%), Lithuania (29.8%) and Latvia (31.4%) registered the lowest ratios.
For taxes related to income and wealth, the highest share by far was registered in Denmark (29.7% of GDP), ahead of Sweden (18.9%), Belgium (16.9%) and Finland (16.6%). In contrast, Lithuania (5.4%), Bulgaria (5.7%), Romania (6.1%) and Croatia (6.3%) recorded the lowest taxes on income and wealth as a percentage of GDP.
Net social contributions accounted for a large proportion of GDP in France (18.8%), Germany (16.7%) and Belgium (16.1%), while the lowest shares were observed in Denmark (0.9% of GDP) and Sweden (3.3%).