HELSINKI: The accrual of taxes and compulsory social security contributions grew by 1.5 per cent in 2014, according to Statistics Finland’s data.
The total accrual amounted to approximately euro 90 billion. The tax ratio grew from the previous year by 0.2 percentage points to 43.9 per cent. The tax ratio describes the ratio of taxes and compulsory social security contributions to gross domestic product. Compared with the preliminary data released in March, the tax ratio for 2014 went down by 0.2 percentage points mainly due to the revision of GDP as per the data based on the revised national accounts data for 2014.
The revenue from households’ income tax grew particularly in 2014. The revenue from income tax paid by households rose by 6.1 per cent and totalled euro 27.4 billion. The tax includes both taxes on earned income and taxes on capital income. The revenue from households’ income tax was increased by the renewal of dividend taxation, which took effect in 2014. In addition, the accrual of employment pension contributions paid by the insured and employers, real estate tax and capital transfer tax also grew clearly from one year before.
The accrual of corporation tax in turn contracted by 17.9 per cent to euro 3.8 billion. The accruals of energy taxes, tobacco tax, employers’ other social security contributions, as well as death duty and gift tax diminished.
The tax revenue of the state totalled euro 42.6 billion in 2014. The growth from the year before amounted to 1.1 per cent, the data show. The tax revenue of municipalities totalled euro 21.2 billion and grew by 2.2 per cent from one year before. The accruals of compulsory social security contributions paid to social security funds increased by 1.5 per cent and totalled euro 26 billion, according to the statistics. The proportion of taxes and statutory social security contributions in consolidated total general government income was around 80 per cent in 2014.
