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EUROPEAN UNION

Swedes pay less tax than the Danes

Danes pay the highest level of tax in the EU, measured as a tax-to-GDP ratio of 48.2 percent, pushing Sweden into second place with an overall tax take of 47.1 percent, new figures from Eurostat show.

Published: 29 June 2010 08:19 CEST

“In comparison with the rest of the world, the EU27 tax ratio remains generally high and more than one third above the levels recorded in the USA and Japan. However, the tax burden varies significantly between Member States,” Eurostat said in a statement on Monday.

The overall tax-to-GDP ratio in the EU27 was 39.3 percent in 2008 and so both the Swedes and the Danes pay significantly more in tax than the EU average.

The overall tax take has increased somewhat since the financial crisis, from 39.7 percent in 2007, but still down on 40.6 percent in 2000.

Romania has the distinction of paying the least tax in the EU with a take of 28 percent, followed by Latvia on 28.9 percent, Slovakia on 29.1 percent and Ireland on 29.3 percent.

Swedes, who long occupied top spot in the rankings, have seen their tax burden declined steadily from a 2000 high of 51.8 percent. Neighbouring Finland has also cut its levies from 47.2 percent in 2000 to 43.1 percent in 2008.

Cyprus and Malta have meanwhile experienced the highest increases over the period, from 30 percent to 39.2 percent, and 28.2 percent to 34.5 percent respectively.

Among euro area countries the overall tax ratio fell to 39.7 percent in 2008, from 40.4 percent in 2007 with taxes following a similar trend to the EU27, just at a slightly higher level.

The largest source of tax revenue in the EU27 is labour taxes, representing over 40 percent of total tax receipts, followed by consumption taxes at roughly one quarter and taxes on capital at just over one fifth.

In Sweden “implicit tax rate” on labour has declined from 46 percent in 2000 to 42.1 in 2008, and on capital, from 43.2 percent to 27.9 percent over the period. Taxes have meanwhile increased on consumption, from 26.3 percent in 2000 to 28.4 percent in 2008.

Sweden still has the highest top tax rate on personal income in the EU27 with 56.4 percent in 2010, followed by Belgium on 53.7 percent and the Netherlands on 52 percent. The lowest top rate income taxes can be found in Bulgaria with 10 percent, and the Czech Republic and Lithuania on 15 percent.

This information comes from the 2010 edition of the publication Taxation trends in the European Union issued by Eurostat, which is the statistical office of the European Union and the Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union.

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

Published: 8 December 2023 14:34 CET
OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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