Tax Burden in Albania, Kosovo and Western Balkans 2020

Abstract

This Annual Report on Tax burden is the main output of the monitoring process of the ALTAX 2020 Albanian Fiscal Studies Series. This report covers the period January 2019 to December 2019 and consists into 5 chapters. The thematic series of publications that are already a tradition about the debate of the tax burden in Albania and other countries of region as well, are presented by ALTAX Center again this year, with the lowest tax burden and highest tax burden indicators in 2019, for each region in Albania and Kosovo, which mean the classification for every of 12 Albanian regions and the Saranda city in Albania, as well as 7 regions of Kosovo, which include 38 communes in total. The share of the tax burden is also presented in the comparison between the countries of the Western Balkans by making the classification for the highest burden and the lowest tax burden recorded in 2018 and compared with the previous year's rating. A special place of study also is the tax burden in Kosovo, which is published for the 8th time by ALTAX Center. Calculation of the share they have in relation to budget and domestic regional production is an indicator that aims to present disproportion between the regions in the two Albanian states, but also between the Balkan regions themselves, where a special part holds the seven Western Balkan countries. The Balkans are part of Europe, geographically surrounded by EU members. With the inclusion of the GINI index in the study is added a depth analysis about the wealth being, including the interactive effect of fiscal burden, revenue distribution, and the use of taxes on spending from the budget. The purpose of presenting this study is to present important implications for the cities and countries involved in the study, since taxes, and fees are a key part of the tax burden and a source for enabling public services that impact on competitiveness and quality of life, economy and welfare of countries and cities. The data used for the calculations are obtained from official statistics sources, from finances, taxes and organizations that keep data and publish them, both domestically and externally. Part of the data was processed and used to compare and serve as the main reference for the presentation. The study aims to attract policymakers and scholars attention, fiscal media, fiscal policy analysts and tax administration authorities, as well as critics who can reserve comment reviews or have questions about the calculations and facts presented in the document.