The EU is still a heavy tax burden

Eurostat 22 published data show that EU 2007 tax burden still heavy, tax revenue to GDP ratio reached 39.8%, a slight rise in 2006.

And compared with other economies around the world, EU tax burden significantly higher revenue share of GDP than in the United States and Japan almost by 12 percentage points. Of course, in the EU, the Member States but also between larger differences, such as minimum of Romania and Slovakia only 29.4% and the highest in the Nordic countries, Denmark and Sweden are close to 50%.

Eurostat said that since 2000, EU tax burden is first grave after Yang, 2000 40.6% to 38.9% in 2004, followed by a gradual increase.

In the same period, the euro area is approximately equivalent, but the average tax burden level higher than the EU. In 2007, the tax account for the euro area's GDP is approximately 40.4%.

Data show that in 2007, the labour tax remains the EU's largest source of revenue, nearly half of the total amount of EU taxes, consumption taxes accounted for 28% of the capital tax accounted for 23%.

Analysts noted that EU countries generally adopted a social market economy, social security and welfare measures better, so the tax burden is relatively heavy.