The European Commission will today present the 2014 edition of its Taxation Trends report.

This report takes stock of the tax systems in the member states, including extensive and comparable data on their tax structures and rates, and provides an analysis on the evolution of these trends over the medium- to long-term period. It also contains data on energy taxation and on the top rates for personal and corporate income taxes.

According to last year’s data on taxation trends, the total of corporate taxes as a percentage of GDP in 2011 was 2.4 per cent in the Republic of Ireland compared with an EU27 average of 2.6 per cent. In 2011 taxes on corporations’ incomes amounted to 8.3 per cent of total taxes in Ireland compared with an average of 6.6 per cent across the EU.

Tax has become a topical issue in recent months, with the European Commission last week announced a formal investigation into tax arrangements offered by the Irish Government to computer giant, Apple.

The investigation, which follows an informal inquiry by the European Commission, will examine whether the corporate tax paid by Apple complies with EU rules on state aid.

The Netherlands and Luxembourg are also being investigated in relation to specific tax rulings they offered to Starbucks and Fiat respectively.