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New tax hike set to hit Spanish booze

Budget booze has always been one of Spain's selling points but the crisis could be a killjoy if tough new taxes are imposed.

New tax hike set to hit Spanish booze
Enough to drive you to drink? Cigarettes and alcohol could face further tax rises. Photo: DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP

Spain's Minister for Finance and Public Administrations, Cristóbal Montoro, could be set to impose a range of special taxes,  according to a report in national daily El País on Monday.

Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in Spain is 36%, well below the eurozone average of 46.5%

The pressure of a new Stability Program, recently submitted to Brussels, means that further tax-raising measures are now being discussed.

Alcoholic drinks are first in the line of fire, with a tax hike of 8-10% expected by those in the industry.

Beer, wine and spirits escaped the last round of tax rises, partly to protect Spain's valuable tourism industry, but total tax revenue fell last year by 3.5% compared with 2011.

The World Health Organization ranks Spain as 30th in the world for alcohol consumption, with an average of 11.6 litres per capita per year.

Despite overall consumption remaining stable in recent years, the drinks industry has claimed that with margins squeezed by declining sales (down by 20%), and taxes already representing 24% of the purchase price of beer and 41% of spirits, any further hikes will have to be passed on to customers.

Tobacco is also predicted to face tax increases despite a number of recent rises.

79% of the price of each cigarette is taxed but overall revenue from tobacco fell by 2.6% in 2012.

Motorists could be spared in the short term, as Montoro recently declared further fuel tax rises off-limits when presenting the Stability Program.

A raft of other possibilities are under scrutiny, including eliminating additional tax deductions for large companies with revenues of over €20 million per year, introducing 'Green' taxes, and raising VAT on sanitary products and legal services. 

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Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark’s employment allowance?

Denmark's government may soon announce changes to its tax reform plans, which will give all wage earners a bigger employment allowance. What is this and how will it affect foreigners' earnings?

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance? 

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes. 

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner. 

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal? 

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment  allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner. 

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen? 

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance. 

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement. 

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.  

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