Taxation of Savings in Europe : a multi-product comparison

The purpose of this study was to draw up an inventory of European taxation on income from savings products. The methodological difficulties were substantial : tax rules are very diverse from one country to another, and there is no standardised definition of savings products at an international level. Furthermore, in each and for each savings product, tax can vary in accordance with the characteristics of the individual, the household or the structure of their portfolio. The process of confronting these difficulties consisted of two consecutive stages : - in the first stage, all products of the savings type were defined and the tax rules in force for each product in each country studied ; - in the second stage, taxations were compared by calculating the effective marginal rates of levy for each category or product and in each country, based on a common methodology. JEL classifications : E21, E62, H20, H30, H87Laurent Thierry, L'Horty Yannick. Taxation of Savings in Europe : a multi-product comparison . In: Revue d'économie financière (English ed.), n°64, 2001. Saving and investment in Europe. pp. 105-124