| dc.description.abstract | This is a new survey, published by the Commission of the European Communities {Directorate-General for Competition, Directorate for Tax Matters), of taxes levied in the Member States of the European Economic Community. It presents the situation as at 1 January 1967 and is the fourth in the series. The preceding editions gave the situation as at 1 January 1963, 1964 and 1965. As in the past the countries are dealt with in the following order: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands. In accordance with the system adopted in the last edition, the taxes of each Member State have been divided into groups, with like taxes placed in the same group. For easier reference, the number of the group is given at the top of each page. In general, this system allows the tax arrangements to be compared by type of tax. For certain types, however, comparison is difficult because of the great disparity of tax systems (for example, the registration taxes levied in France and Belgium -on transfers of real estate and capital contributions, inter alia -correspond in Germany to special types of tax: real property transfer tax (Grunder-werbsteuer) II 3 C and tax on the acquisition of corporate rights (Gesellschaftsteuer) II 3D). Three main groups have been established: I. Taxes on income, profits and wealth; II. Taxes on capital formation and capital transactions : III. Taxes on expenditure. Group I is subdivided as follows: Income tax Corporation tax Land tax and taxes on other real estate Taxes on industry and trade Wealth tax. Group II is subdivided as follows : Inheritance and gift duties Taxes on the appreciation of assets Registration tax and transfer taxes Stamp duty Securities tax Stock-exchange turnover tax. Group Ill is subdivided as follows : Turnover tax Transport tax Special excise duties Taxes on motor vehicles. This method of subdivision does not correspond exactly to that used in the table an-nexed, though most of the figures in the table are broken down according to the types of tax described in the text. The calculation for each type of tax (and group of taxes) of the percentage it represents of total tax revenue and of GNP will certainly facilitate comparison, which would have been impossible with absolute figures. Since, however, it is not always possible to delimit clearly the notion of tax burden, caution is called for in comparing percentages. Reference should also be made to the Introduction to the Table. The table was compiled in conjunction with the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In publishing this work, the Commission is carrying out its obligation to bring out regularly a list of taxes being levied in the Member States. The Commission accepted this task in the course of a meeting of the Standing Committee of Heads of Revenue Departments of the Member States held on 16 July 1963. This publication, which comes out in five languages (French, German, Italian, Dutch and English), provides a systematic survey for officials and others who have to deal professionally with taxation matters peculiar to other Member States. The Directorate for Tax Matters will be glad to be informed of any errors that readers may find and to receive suggestions on how to improve presentation. 1 December 1967 |
