Tax Foundation Europe

08/06/2026

Closing the EU’s value-added tax (VAT) actionable policy gap could yield €773 billion in government revenue—four times the EU’s 2026 budget.

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Closing the EU's value-added tax (VAT) actionable policy gap could yield billions in additional government revenue for member states.

05/06/2026

Who really pays for European welfare states? Many assume the answer is obvious: high-income earners contribute while low-income earners benefit. However, that assumption is only partly true, and often misleading.

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The assumption that high-income earners contribute to the European welfare state while low-income earners benefit is only partly true.

04/06/2026

Debates over tax fairness and anti-avoidance rules have dominated European tax policy circles for over a decade. However, as geoeconomic pressures increase around the world, policymakers are looking for ways to boost European competitiveness and economic growth.

This new analysis examines how the design of a country’s tax system affects economic growth, and what role European-level harmonization should play: https://hubs.ly/Q04jYnMR0

03/06/2026

💶 Fourteen countries in Europe—Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom—currently levy a type of financial transaction tax.

FTTs directly increase the cost of raising equity capital to finance business investment. Due to the strong negative response of transaction volumes and share prices to higher transaction costs, they frequently fail to achieve their revenue goals.

Explore the data: https://hubs.ly/Q04jMjjN0

02/06/2026

Academic research has continually found that making alternative ni****ne products to ci******es more expensive results in fewer smokers switching to less harmful products.

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The EU ni****ne tax risks deterring smokers from switching to safer alternatives by narrowing the price gap with combustible ci******es.

01/06/2026

While the corporate tax rate in Poland is below average, there are several other distortionary taxes and limitations on companies that make it less competitive.

Visit our International Tax Competitiveness Index for more: https://hubs.ly/Q04jnxbF0

29/05/2026

🌎 How does your country rank in competitiveness?

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q04jg2Pw0

28/05/2026

The European Commission has plans to generate more tax revenue to fund the forthcoming MFF, the long-term budget running from 2028 to 2034. But the truth is, without serious reform, the EU isn’t ready for new taxation.

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Without tax reform, Europe isn't ready to introduce new taxation to fund the forthcoming MFF, the long-term budget running from 2028-2034.

27/05/2026

Shifting the tax burden from labor to consumption can improve incentives to work and expand the labor supply. However, combining a higher VAT rate with base-narrowing measures would likely eliminate any additional revenue. As a result, the reform would fail to create additional fiscal space for labor tax cuts.

Read more: https://hubs.ly/Q04hWF900

26/05/2026

The European Tax Policy Scorecard seeks to measure the extent to which a country’s tax system adheres to two important aspects of tax policy: competitiveness and neutrality.

The variety of approaches to taxation among European countries creates a need to evaluate these systems relative to each other.

Read more: https://hubs.ly/Q04hDVJl0