Member States continue to adjust to the COVID 19 pandemic, which had an unprecedented global socio-economic impact. Following a deep recession in 2020, EU economies returned to a growth path in 2021 supported by national and EU level policy measures, including in the area of taxation.
As 2021 was coming to an end, the world was grappling with a new virus variant and a rise in infection rates, as well as supply bottlenecks, higher energy prices and the return of inflation. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has further exacerbated the energy crisis and has impacted significantly in previous estimations of growth and it is clear that the impact of the crisis will take longer to wear off than expected. These short-term challenges combined with long-term trends such as ageing, digitalisation and globalisation and will likely have repercussions on our tax systems and our tax policy. Ensuring the ‘twin transitions’ happen is crucial for the EU’s recovery, and tax policy has a role to play in supporting an inclusive, sustainable and digital-friendly recovery.
The report’s indicator-based analysis assesses the recent trends in EU tax systems, and identifies how tax policy, implementation or compliance could be improved. Building on the current economic outlook, the report highlights that there is still scope for Member States’ tax systems to be fairer and more efficient in line with the 2021 Communication on Business Taxation for the 21st Century. The Communication sets out both a long-term and short-term vision for supporting Europe’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring adequate public revenues over the coming years.
This and many other taxation matters and indicators are presented and analysed in the Annual Report on Taxation 2022.
An analysis of the latest developments in taxation indicators can be found in the accompanying document on Taxation Trends
Previous editions named as ‘Tax policies in the EU’