Portugal’s tax burden continues at historic high

Portugal’s tax burden continued at the historic high of 34.8% in 2019 according to the National Statistics Institute INE.

In 2019 the tax burden remained at the same level it had in 2018 but nevertheless at a historic high.
The data was available at the end of March when Portugal’s finance minister Mário Centeno announced the first budget surplus in Portugal’s democratic history.
The amount of taxes and contributions delivered by the Portuguese, companies and other State entities as a percentage of GDP stabilised at 34.8% in 2019.
It was the same value as 2018 which had been the highest at least since 1995, the year in which the National Statistics Institute (INE) began compiling statistics on tax data.
In 2019 the tax burden increased 4.0% in nominal terms, reaching €74Bn which corresponds to 34.8% of GDP. (It was also 34.8% in 2018).
The concept of tax burden means the total sum of tax revenues added to social security receipts measured in a percentage of GDP.