丹麦税收制度的发展.pdfVIP


  
       


 1. TAX POLICY REFORMS IN DENMARK 1.1 Tax structure and trends The tax-to-GDP ratio of Denmark has been relatively constant during the last 15 to 20 years fluctuating around 48-50 per cent, as can be seen from figure 1.1. In 2004 the tax burden increased to 49.7 per cent of GDP (it was 49.0 per cent in 2003) as economic performance was better than expected. Since the second half of the 1980s, the tax burden in Denmark has been relatively constant while it increased sharply in the period from 1965 to 1988. During the latter period the tax burden increased from around 30 to 50.4 per cent of GDP or approximately 0.8 percentage points per year on average. Only Sweden with a tax-to-GDP ratio of 50.8 per cent has a higher tax burden than Denmark. In 2002, the EU-average is 40.6 per cent while the OECD-average is 36.3 per cent. As illustrated in table 1.1, not only the overall tax burden but also the tax structure in Denmark differs from the EU- and OECD-average. More than half of the total tax revenue in Denmark comes from personal income taxation. On the other hand, social security contributions are not widely used in Denmark. Most OECD countries put a more equal weight on personal income taxes and social security contributions. In most countries, including Denmark, the sum of personal income taxes and social security contributions make up 50 to 60 per cent of total taxes. Figure 1.1: Tax/GDP ratio in Denmark and certain OECD countries 1965-2003 Per cent of GDP 60 55 50