BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — France is the top-taxed country in the European Union and Ireland the lowest, according to the latest figures released on Wednesday by the bloc's statistics office Eurostat.
The tax-to-GDP ratio of France, calculated on the sum of taxes and net social contributions, was 48.4% in 2018, putting it ahead of Belgium on 47.2% and Denmark on 45.9%.
The EU average was 40.3%.
According to Eurostat, Ireland imposed the lowest burden, with a ratio of 23%.
Romania, at 27.1%, and Bulgaria, at 29.9%, were the next least-taxed.
France has held the top spot since 2015.
Europe's biggest economy, Germany, had a tax-to-GDP ratio of 41.5%, which was pretty close to the average for the eurozone group of 19 EU members on 41.7%.
Eurostat noted that the rankings changed when each type of tax was looked at separately.
For income and wealth tax, for instance, Denmark stood out with a ratio of 28.9%, followed by Sweden and Belgium, whereas Romania, on 4.9%, and Lithuania and Bulgaria came bottom.
France was the champion in terms of social contributions, with a proportion of 18%, followed by Germany on 17.1%, while the lowest ratios were in Denmark, Sweden and Ireland.
© Agence France-Presse
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