Taxes in Latvia amongst the lowest in the EU, reports Eurostat

The latest research by Eurostat shows that in 2005 the average tax burden in the EU countries was 39,6% of their GDP, for Latvia the figure was only 29,4%.

The highest tax burden was registered in Sweden (51,3% of GDP), followed by Denmark (50,3%) and Belgium (45,5%). Latvia was one of the four countries where the tax burden in 2004 was less than 30% of their GDP.

For more statistics on other EU countries, please see the following table or visit full report in Eurostat.

Tax burden in the EU (as % of GDP)
Year	1995	2004	2005
EU 27	39,7	39,2	39,6
EU 13	39,9	39,6	39,9
Sweden	49,0	50,5	51,3
Denmark	48,8	49,3	50,3
Belgium	43,8	45,0	45,5
France	42,7	43,1	44,0
Finland	45,7	43,4	43,9
Austria	41,3	42,8	42,0
Italy	40,1	40,7	40,6
Slovenia	40,2	39,6	40,5
Germany	39,8	38,8	38,8
Luxembourg	37,1	37,9	38,2
Hungary	37,1	37,9	38,2
the Netherlands	40,2	37,7	38,2
the United Kingdom	35,6	35,9	37,0
Czech Republic	36,2	36,8	36,3
Bulgaria	-	35,3	35,9
Spain	32,7	34,5	35,6
Cyprus	26,7	33,5	35,6
Malta	27,3	34,2	35,3
Portugal	37,1	34,2	35,3
Greece	32,6	34,3	34,4
Poland	37,1	32,6	34,2
Estonia	37,9	31,4	30,9
Ireland	33,1	30,5	30,8
Latvia	33,2	28,5	29,4
Slovakia	39,6	29,7	29,3
Lithuania	28,6	28,3	28,9
Romania	-	27,3	28,0

Starting from 2000 the Government has made an effort to gradually decrease the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) from 25% to 15% in 2004. For a quick look at other taxes in Latvia consult the table below.