Dividend Tax Rates in Europe, 2025
Many countries’ personal income tax systems tax various sources of individual income—including investment income such as dividends and capital gains.
4 min readMany countries’ personal income tax systems tax various sources of individual income—including investment income such as dividends and capital gains.
4 min readAn update to the EU’s Excise Tax Directive that embraces harm reduction principles would save lives and provide a steady stream of revenue to support public health expenditures.
22 min readTax legislation in 2025 may have good reason to address international corporate income taxes, because of scheduled changes slated to go into effect or because of international developments like the Pillar Two agreement.
63 min readCapital gains taxes create a bias against saving, leading to a lower level of national income by encouraging present consumption over investment.
5 min readThe agreement represents a major change for tax competition, and many countries will be rethinking their tax policies for multinationals. If there is no agreement on changes to Pillar Two or digital services taxes, retaliatory American tariffs could be on the horizon.
8 min readWealth 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 readThe next government needs to prioritize measures to improve Germany’s competitiveness as an investment location.
7 min readThe variety of approaches to taxation among European countries creates a need to evaluate these systems relative to each other. For that purpose, we have developed the European Tax Policy Scorecard—a relative comparison of European countries’ tax systems.
55 min readThe Trump administration appears to be moving in a “reciprocal” policy direction despite the significant negative economic consequences for American consumers of across-the-board tariffs on goods coming into the US. However, the EU’s VAT system should not be used as a justification for retaliatory tariffs.
6 min readDenmark (55.9 percent), France (55.4 percent), and Austria (55 percent) levy the highest top personal income tax rates in Europe.
4 min readIn 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.
7 min readAs the third-largest economy in the world, with an influential voice within EU policymaking, and the United States among its most important trading partners, Germany’s next government will play a particularly important role in deciding the direction of European tax, trade, and transatlantic policy.
6 min readIn a recent speech at the Davos Economic Forum, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to create a single set of rules for corporate law, insolvency, labor law, and taxation, under which companies could seamlessly operate across the European Single Market.
7 min readMore than 175 countries worldwide—including all major European countries—levy a value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services. EU Member States’ VAT rates vary across countries, though they’re somewhat harmonized by the EU.
5 min readThis week, the incoming Trump administration issued a day-one executive order on the global minimum tax agreement known as Pillar Two, which seeks to ensure multinational corporations pay at least 15 percent in income tax.
6 min readSome European countries have raised their statutory corporate rates over the past year, including Czechia, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, and Slovenia.
3 min readIn most European OECD countries, corporate income is taxed twice, once at the entity level and once at the shareholder level.
4 min read18 of the 27 EU Member States have implemented both the income inclusion rule and the qualified domestic minimum top-up tax in 2024.
4 min readSpain’s central government is considering making its windfall taxes on energy companies and the banking sector permanent.
6 min readAs the geopolitical scene continues to change, policymakers in Europe should focus on lowering effective marginal tax rates to drive much-needed investment and long-term economic growth.
6 min read