Employees without children in Romania keep the smallest share of their gross salary in the EU after paying mandatory taxes and social contributions, according to a Euronews analysis. Roughly 41.5% of gross earnings go to the state, the highest percentage in the European Union.
On average across the European Union, taxes and social contributions account for 29.1% of gross salary.
At the opposite end is Cyprus, where these deductions amount to just 15.1% of gross income. Greece ranks second among the countries with the lowest deductions, at 17%.
After Romania, the highest shares of taxes and social contributions are recorded in Lithuania, at 39.1%, Belgium, at 37.6%, Slovenia, at 36.9%, Germany, at 34.8%, Denmark, at 34%, and Hungary, at 33.5%.
Above the European average are also Luxembourg, at 32.6%, and Croatia, at 31.5%. By contrast, several countries have a tax burden below 25% of gross salary. These include the Czech Republic, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Malta, Estonia, Italy, Sweden, and Slovakia.
Among the four largest economies in the European Union, Germany has the highest share of taxes and social contributions applied to wages, at 34.8%. At the opposite end is Spain, at 22.1%. France records a level of 26.2%, while Italy stands at 24.1%.
The analysis shows that Southern European countries tend to have a lower tax burden on wages. By contrast, higher levels are frequently found in Central and Eastern Europe. In Western Europe, the situation is more varied, while the Nordic and Baltic countries show significant differences among themselves.
Employees with families face lower taxes and contributions, the EU average being 8%. In Romania, however, this category continues to bear the highest tax burden in the European Union, at 33.4%. Lithuania ranks second, at 23.8%, nearly ten percentage points behind Romania. Only Hungary, Slovenia, Finland, and Denmark also exceed the 20% threshold. In Greece and Poland, net income exceeds gross salary for such families. This is possible due to child allowances and tax benefits granted for children.
Germany records the largest difference between a single employee and a family with two children supported by a single salary. The share of taxes and social contributions drops from 34.8% to just 0.2%.
For families in which both parents work and have two children, the level of taxes and social contributions is lower than for single individuals in all member states except Greece. In Poland, the difference is 11.5 percentage points. In Greece, the two categories are taxed at the same level.
(Photo source: Costel Florin Astefanei|Dreamstime.com)
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