The revenue generated by tax authorities across Europe has begun to rise again. New figures published by Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency show.
The overall tax ratio, the total amount of taxes and social security contributions, increased to 39.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 from 39.2% in 2004, according to the EU's data agency.
"The downtrend which had started in 1999 in most countries stopped in 2005," Eurostat said in the report.
After peaking at 41% in 1999, taxes in the 27-nations belonging to the European Union had been gradually coming down, although they still stand out among the highest in the world.
"EU tax levels remain generally high in comparison with the rest of the world, with the EU-27 tax ratio exceeding those of the US and of Japan by some 13 percentage points," Eurostat said.
There is a wide variation among member states. It is as high as 51.3% in Sweden and 50.3% in Denmark and as low as 28% in Romania and 28.9% in Lithuania.
