WRITTEN QUESTION E-0855/01 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Income tax rates.
Date: 2001-03-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: tax on income, tax system

14.2.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 40 E/15

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2001)

Between 1 January 2000 and 28 February 2001, the Commission adopted, on the responsibility of the
Members referred to by the Honourable Member, 99 proposals for directives and regulations which were
transmitted to the Council for adoption and, where necessary to Parliament.

Of these proposals, 49 were considered likely to have economic repercussions on business and were the
subject of an impact assessment.

The Commission has been evaluating the business impact of legislative proposals since 1986. It endeavours
to make Commission departments, Parliament and the Council more aware of firms(cid:146) concerns before
legislative proposals are adopted.

Every proposal of this type which could significantly affect businesses in terms of additional costs arising
from alignment or new administrative procedures is the subject of an impact evaluation setting out the
main problems involved and thereby enabling the Commission, the Council and Parliament to ascertain the
proposal(cid:146)s potential impact and to gauge its implications.

The system of business impact assessment has proved its worth in evaluating the impact of legislative
the
proposals on small and medium-sized undertakings (SMEs) but must also be seen as part of
Commission(cid:146)s steadfast commitment to the improvement of Community legislation. The need to have a
more comprehensive impact evaluation system has become evident, particularly in the light of the
conclusions of the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 which state that (cid:145)The European institutions (cid:133)
must continue to pay particular attention to the impact and compliance costs of proposed regulations and
should pursue their dialogue with business and citizens with this aim in mind (cid:133)(cid:146) The impact evaluation
system is therefore being revised as part of a pilot project.

This pilot project was launched and will be developed at the same time as the existing system for business
impact assessment (BIA), which has been used since 1986. The aim of the project is to contribute to the
debate on the quality of legislation while improving the existing arrangements by incorporating the most
recent impact analysis techniques. The pilot project for evaluating the impact of proposals on business
activities will draw on the know-how of Commission departments,
improve consultations with non-
government bodies and give decision-makers clearer guidance on the foreseeable implications which
proposed legislation will have for European firms and their competitiveness.

(2002/C 40 E/014)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0855/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 March 2001)

Subject: Income tax rates

Does the Commission have any evidence about the revenue-maximising top marginal income tax rate in
any or all of the Member States?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(15 June 2001)

The Commission has no data about tax revenue produced by the top marginal income tax rate in force in
each Member State, nor on the rates which would be likely to produce maximum revenue. Such data have
to do with the tax bases as well as different tax provisions which fall entirely under the Member States(cid:146)

C 40 E/16

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.2.2002

competence. Moreover, it would be misleading to consider the top marginal income tax rate in isolation
from other aspects of the tax law. In particular the progressiveness of the income tax schedule, the laying
out of exemptions (e.g. for some social security benefits), tax deductions such as family allowances and
special schemes for capital income or real estate may affect significantly the level of tax revenue.

For information purposes, the top rates of personal income tax expressed as per cent of taxable income
and their respective thresholds of income, have been calculated and a copy is sent direct to the Honourable
member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat. Because of the complexities mentioned above, there are various
in some
ways of computing such rates. An important parameter to consider relates to the fact that,
Member States, regional and/or municipal income taxes are levied in addition to state income tax. For
these Member States, the average rate of the regional and/or municipal income taxes has been added to the
top marginal state income tax in order to get the total top marginal income tax rate. For Spain however,
the average rate of regional income tax has been replaced in the calculation with the top regional tax rate
provided for by default by national legislation. The span of the regional and/or municipal tax rates are
indicated in the last column of the table sent to the Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat, as
per cent of taxable income, except for Belgium where it consists of a surcharge as per cent of the state tax.
Overall, these figures show large differentiations of top marginal tax rates applied by Member States.

(2002/C 40 E/015)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0881/01

by Elizabeth Lynne (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 March 2001)

Subject: Laser pointer pens

I understand that, in the United States, lasers are classified in a slightly different way from in the EU. The
American national standard for lasers has six classes, and the method of allocation is different from the
European standard. This has caused some problems with labelling. In some cases, American class 2 lasers
would be classified as class IIIA using the European standard. Laser pointers usually contain class II lasers
which give a suitable range and power for their intended purpose.
Importing into the EU pointers
classified and labelled in accordance with the American standard means that they may be classified
incorrectly and consequently mislabelled. What measures have been taken, or are to be taken, to ensure
that pens imported into the EU are labelled in accordance with the EU standard?

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

The Commission has examined in detail the issue of the safety of laser pointers with the assistance of the
Emergencies Committee under Directive 92/59/EEC on general product safety (1). It was agreed with the
competent market surveillance authorities of the Member States that the placing on the market of laser
pens intended for or likely to be used by non-professionals, belonging to class 3 and higher in accordance
with European standard EN 60825, will not be allowed.

A comparative examination of the American standard shows that
the European and the American
classification structures do not present fundamental divergences in respect to laser pointers of classes 1 and
2. These categories are safe under reasonably foreseeable conditions,
in particular concerning the
functioning of the (cid:145)blink reflex(cid:146). Member States have not reported specific problems on this issue.