Wealth Taxes in Europe, 2025
Wealth taxes not only collect little revenue and create legal uncertainty, but an OECD report argues that they can also disincentivize entrepreneurship, harming innovation and long-term growth.
5 min read
Expert
Cristina Enache
Economist
Cristina Enache writes on the economics of tax policy and is the author of the Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index. She was formerly the Director of Research at Civismo, an economic research organization based in Spain. She also served as head of research at Institución Futuro, a regional think tank based in Navarra in northern Spain. She is also currently Secretary-General at the World Taxpayers Associations and General Manager of the Spanish Taxpayers Union, which she joined in 2016.
Cristina has a degree in economics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and a master’s degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Navarra.
Latest Work
The EU’s Questionable VAT Policy
In a recent survey regarding companies’ barriers to conducting business in the EU single market, VAT ranked first. Policymakers should invest in reforming VAT systems to close both compliance and policy gaps in ways that improve the overall efficiency of their tax systems.
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Corporate Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2025
Some European countries have raised their statutory corporate rates over the past year, including Czechia, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, and Slovenia.
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Corporate Tax Rates Around the World, 2024
The worldwide average statutory corporate tax rate has consistently decreased since 1980 but has leveled off in recent years. In the US, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act brought the country’s statutory corporate income tax rate from the fourth highest in the world closer to the middle of the distribution.
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Are Windfall Taxes Becoming the New Normal in the UK?
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Wartime Taxes Are Waging War on Sound Policy Choices
Spain’s central government is considering making its windfall taxes on energy companies and the banking sector permanent.
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2024 Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index
The 2024 Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index allows policymakers and taxpayers to evaluate and measure how their regions’ tax systems compare.
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Windfall Profit Taxes in Europe, 2024
The flawed design of these windfall profits taxes has created problems in countries that implemented them.
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What European Countries Are Doing about Oil and Gas Windfall Profits Taxes
Rather than pursuing temporary policies, policymakers should implement long-term, pro-growth tax reforms that stimulate economic activity and incentivize energy diversification by supporting private investment through full expensing.
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The High Cost of Wealth Taxes
Many developed countries have repealed their wealth taxes in recent years for a variety of reasons. They raise little revenue, create high administrative costs, and induce an outflow of wealthy individuals and their money. Many policymakers have also recognized that high taxes on capital and wealth damage economic growth.
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Tax Burden on Labor in Europe, 2024
To make the taxation of labor more efficient, policymakers should understand the inputs into the tax wedge, and taxpayers should understand how their tax burden funds government services.
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A Comparison of the Tax Burden on Labor in the OECD, 2024
Governments often justify higher tax burdens with more extensive public services. However, the cost of these services can be more than half of an average worker’s salary.
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Digital Services Taxes in Europe, 2024
About half of all European OECD countries have either announced, proposed, or implemented a DST. Because these taxes mainly impact U.S. companies and are thus perceived as discriminatory, the United States responded to the policies with retaliatory tariff threats, urging countries to abandon unilateral measures.
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Digital Taxation around the World
The outcome of the digital tax debate will likely shape domestic and international taxation for decades to come. Designing these policies based on sound principles will be essential in ensuring they can withstand challenges arising in the rapidly changing economic and technological environment of the 21st century.
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Estate, Inheritance, and Gift Taxes in Europe, 2024
As tempting as inheritance, estate, and gift taxes might look—especially when the OECD notes them as a way to reduce wealth inequality—their limited capacity to collect revenue and their negative impact on entrepreneurial activity, saving, and work should make policymakers consider their repeal instead of boosting them.
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Wealth Taxes in Europe, 2024
Only three European countries levy a net wealth tax—Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. France and Italy levy wealth taxes on selected assets.
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Savings and Investment: The Tax Treatment of Stock and Retirement Accounts in the OECD and Select EU Countries (2024)
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Corporate Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2024
Like most regions around the world, European countries have experienced a decline in corporate income tax rates over the past four decades, but the average corporate income tax rate has leveled off in recent years.
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Spanish Regions Are Not Surrendering Their Tax Competitiveness without a Fight
Spain’s central government could learn some valuable lessons from its regional governments about sound tax policy.
7 min read
Corporate Tax Rates around the World, 2023
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