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Denmark overtakes France as most high tax country in the EU

Denmark has overtaken France to become the highest tax country in the European Union, according to a new comparison of tax rates across the bloc.

Published: 29 June 2021 15:27 CEST
Denmark overtakes France as most high tax country in the EU
Denmark's tax agency is responsible for raising revenues for the government. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

According to latest addition of Taxation Trends in the European Union, Denmark’s government in 2019 raised 46.1 percent of GDP in tax revenues, with a significant 1.8 percent rise that year pushing it ahead of France, which saw revenues fall 0-9 percent, on 45.5 percent.

According to the study, Denmark in 2021 also has the highest top rate of income tax at 55.9 percent, well ahead of the runner-up, Greece, on 54 percent, Belgium on 53 percent and Sweden on 52.3 percent.

“The largest gains were seen in Cyprus and Denmark, the largest decreases were registered in Belgium and in France and Sweden,” the authors wrote.

Denmark also has the highest share of direct taxes, with taxes on goods and services representing a full 66.5% of revenues.

In addition, most of Denmark’s welfare spending is financed out of general taxation.

This image from the report shows how Denmark’s total tax take was in 2019 ahead of all other EU countries. Source: DG Customs and Taxation.

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BUSINESS

Denmark’s toy giant Lego offers staff bonus after bumper year

Danish toymaker Lego, the world's largest toymaker, Denmark's Lego, said on Tuesday it will offer its 20,000 employees three extra days of holiday and a special bonus after a year of bumper revenues.

Published: 30 November 2021 14:27 CET
Lego is rewarding staff with a Christmas bonus and extra holiday after a strong 2022.
Lego is rewarding staff with a Christmas bonus and extra holiday after a strong 2022. File photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

Already popular globally, Lego has seen demand for its signature plastic bricks soar during the pandemic alongside its rapid expansion in China.

“The owner family wishes to… thank all colleagues with an extra three days off at the end of 2021,” the company said in a statement.

The unlisted family group reported a net profit of more than 6.3 billion Danish kroner (847 million euros) for the first half of 2021.

Revenues shot up 46 percent to 23 billion kroner in the same period.

It had been “an extraordinary year for the Lego Group and our colleagues have worked incredibly hard,” said the statement, which added that an unspecified special bonus would be paid to staff in April 2022.

Lego, a contraction of the Danish for “play well” (leg godt), was founded in 1932 by Kirk Kristiansen, whose family still controls the group which employs about 20,400 people in 40 countries.

READ ALSO: Lego profits tower to new heights as stores reopen

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