This year data shows the effects of the 2021 economic recovery that followed the COVID-19 pandemic recession. In 2021, tax revenue accounted for 40.6 % of GDP, 0.6 pp more than in 2020. This means that in general, tax revenues in the EU grew faster than GDP, though with some differences across categories of taxes.
The tax structure in the EU in 2021 appears much similar to that preceding the COVID crisis. While labour taxes were more resilient than other tax bases in 2020, when they achieved the highest point in the time series, in 2021 they registered a decline to 20.9% of GDP (-0.4 pp). The share of labour taxes in total taxation also decreased to 51.4% in 2021 (-1.9 pp), that is the lowest value registered in the last decade. Consumption taxes increased to 11.2% of GDP in 2021, 4.7 pp more than in 2020. Revenue from taxes on capital also increased to 8.5% of GDP, 0.6 pp more than in 2020. Revenue from environmental taxes remained stable representing 2.2 % of GDP.
This and many other indicators and trends can be analysed with the Taxation Trend data
Previous years’ analysis of taxation trend data are available in the previous yearly Taxation Trend Reports.