Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers aprueba liberacion nombres de dominio

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) aprueba la liberación de nombres de dominio.

 

Biggest Expansion to Internet in Forty Years Approved for Implementation

 

June 2008

Paris, France: The Board of ICANN today approved a recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet’s addressing system.

“The Board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity” said Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN.

A final version of the implementation plan must be approved by the ICANN Board before the new process is launched. It is intended that the final version will be published in early 2009.

“The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net,” said Dr Twomey. “It’s a massive increase in the ‘real estate’ of the Internet.”

Presently, users have a limited range of 21 top level domains to choose from — names that we are all familiar with like .com, .org, .info.

This proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable. It is expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as (the existing) .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community (as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere). There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris.

“One of the most exciting prospect before us is that the expanding system is also being planned to support extensions in the languages of the world,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN’s Chairman. “This is going to be very important for the future of the Internet in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia.” The present system only supports 37 Roman characters.

Upon approval of the implementation plan, it is planned that applications for new names will be available in the second quarter of 2009.

Frequently asked questions on the process

1. Are you selling these new names?

 ICANN is not “selling” new top level domain names. There will be a limited application period where any established entity from anywhere in the world can submit an application that will go through an evaluation process. It is anticipated that there will be additional rounds relatively soon after the close of the first application round.

2. What’s to stop others registering my brand name?

Trademarks will not be automatically reserved. But there will be an objection-based mechanism for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be considered.

3. How did this proposal get developed?

ICANN has a multi-stakeholder policy development process that served as the foundation for the process design. It involved consultation with domain name industry, trade mark attorneys, the business sector, users, governments and technicians.

4. How will offensive names be prevented?

Offensive names will be subject to an objection-based process based on public morality and order. This process will be conducted by an international arbitration body utilizing criteria drawing on provisions in a number of international treaties. ICANN will not be the decision maker on these objections.

5. When will all this happen?

ICANN is working towards accepting the first applications in the second quarter of 2009.

About ICANN:

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet’s operation, so ICANN’s global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet’s ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit non-profit company.

 

www.icann.org

Taxation trends in the EU, tax ratio at 39,9% of GPD

Taxation trends in the EU
EU27 tax ratio at 39.9% of GDP in 2006
Strongest year-on-year increase in ten years

The weighted tax-to-GDP ratio¹ (i.e. the total amount of taxes and social security contributions) in the EU27² increased to 39.9% in 2006 from 39.3% in 2005. The EU27 tax ratio is nevertheless lower than in 1996 (40.3%) and the peak of 41.0% in 1999. The downtrend which had started in 1999 in most Member States stopped in 2005. In 2006, the overall tax ratio in the euro area² (EA15) was 40.5%, up from 39.8% in 2005. Since 1996, taxes in the euro area have followed a similar trend to the EU27, although at a slightly higher level.

EU tax levels remain generally high in comparison with the rest of the world, with the EU27 tax ratio exceeding those of the USA andJapan by some 12 percentage points. However, the tax burden varies significantly between Member States, ranging in 2006 from less than 30% in Romania (28.6%), Slovakia (29.3%) and Lithuania (29.7%), to almost 50% in Denmark (49.1%) and Sweden(48.9%).

In the past decade significant changes in tax-to-GDP ratios have taken place in several Member States. The largest falls were recorded inSlovakia, where the overall tax burden dropped from 39.4% in 1996 to 29.3% in 2006, and Estonia (from 35.1% to 31.0%). The highest increases were observed in Cyprus (from 26.4% to 36.6%) and Malta (from 25.4% to 33.8%).

Labour taxes remain the largest source of tax revenue, representing close to half of total tax receipts in the EU27. Taxes on capital accounted for approximately 23% of total tax receipts, and consumption taxes 28%.

This information comes from the publication Taxation trends in the European Union: Data for the EU Member States and Norway³ issued by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities and the Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union. This publication compiles tax indicators in a harmonised framework based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 95), allowing accurate comparison of the tax systems and tax policies between EU Member States.

Tax burden has increased more on capital than on labour and consumption

For the EU27 as a whole, the average implicit tax rate (ITR) on labour⁴ (including social contributions), the preferred indicator for the average tax burden, amounted to 34.8% in 2006, compared with 34.6% in 2005. The decline registered since 2000 stopped in 2005, despite a wide consensus on the desirability of reducing labour taxes. However, the tax burden is still lower than its maximum of 36.2% in 2000. Among the Member States, in 2006 this rate ranged from 21.5% in Malta, 24.2% in Cyprus, 25.1% in Ireland and 25.5% in the United Kingdom, to 44.5% in Sweden, 43.0% in Italy, 42.8% in Belgium and 42.1% in France. Despite the presence of a number of low taxing countries, taxation on labour is, on average, much higher in the EU than in the other main industrialised economies.

In line with the development over the last few years, the average implicit tax rate on consumption⁴ in the EU27 increased again in 2006, though only marginally, from 22.0% to 22.1%. Consumption was most taxed in Denmark (34.0%), Sweden (28.1%) andFinland (27.3%), while the lowest implicit rates were registered in Spain (16.4%), Lithuania (16.7%) and Italy (17.2%).

The average implicit tax rate on capital⁴ in the EU27 rose sharply from 26.8% in 2005 to 29.0% in 2006, which could be mainly attributed to business cycle effects. There is considerable disparity in this ratio: among the Member States for which 2006 data are available, the highest implicit tax rates on capital were recorded in Ireland (42.5%), France (41.5%) and Denmark (40.9%), and the lowest in Estonia (8.4%) and Lithuania (14.1%). Latvia registered 9.6% in 2005.

Tax revenue and implicit tax rates* by type of economic activity

	Tax revenue, % of GDP			Implicit tax rate on:
				Consumption			Labour			Capital
	1996	2005	2006	1996	2005	2006	1996	2005	2006	1996	2005	2006
EU27**	40.3	39.3	39.9	21.1	22.0	22.1	35.7	34.6	34.8	24.6	26.8	29.0
EA15**	40.7	39.8	40.5	19.9	21.4	21.6	34.1	34.4	34.7	25.4	30.0	31.7
BE	44.4	44.9	44.6	21.3	22.2	22.4	43.4	43.9	42.8	26.7	32.1	32.3
BG	:	34.1	34.4	:	24.4	25.9	:	34.7	30.9	:	:	:
CZ	34.7	37.1	36.2	21.2	22.2	21.2	39.5	41.7	41.0	22.3	25.5	24.9
DK	49.2	50.7	49.1	31.6	33.6	34.0	40.2	37.5	37.0	30.9	47.7	40.9
DE	40.7	38.7	39.3	18.3	18.0	18.2	39.6	38.6	39.6	25.6	22.9	23.4
EE	35.1	30.6	31.0	19.1	22.8	23.6	39.1	34.1	33.9	16.0	7.9	8.4
IE	33.1	30.8	32.6	24.7	26.5	26.9	29.3	25.1	25.1	27.1	37.5	42.5
EL	29.4	31.3	31.4	17.7	17.0	17.6	35.7	37.8	38.1	11.6	:	:
ES	33.1	35.6	36.5	14.4	16.3	16.4	29.5	30.6	31.6	20.6	36.0	38.7
FR	43.9	43.8	44.2	22.1	20.1	20.0	41.5	41.7	42.1	34.7	40.0	41.5
IT	41.8	40.6	42.3	17.1	16.8	17.2	41.5	42.8	43.0	28.2	30.4	34.4
CY	26.4	35.5	36.6	12.3	20.0	20.4	22.3	24.5	24.2	:	31.0	36.6
LV	30.8	29.0	30.1	17.9	20.2	20.0	34.6	33.2	33.5	15.7	9.6	:
LT	27.9	28.8	29.7	16.4	16.5	16.7	35.0	34.9	34.1	15.4	11.5	14.1
LU	37.6	37.8	35.6	20.8	25.5	25.1	29.6	30.0	29.6	:	:	:
HU	40.6	37.4	37.2	29.5	26.4	25.8	43.1	37.8	39.0	:	:	:
MT	25.4	33.7	33.8	14.0	19.1	19.8	17.8	21.9	21.5	:	:	:
NL	40.2	37.9	39.5	23.3	25.3	26.9	33.3	30.5	33.5	23.2	20.7	20.0
AT	42.6	42.0	41.8	20.7	21.2	20.9	39.5	41.0	41.2	28.0	23.2	23.4
PL	37.2	32.8	33.8	21.2	19.6	20.2	36.3	33.1	34.4	21.3	22.2	:
PT	32.8	35.1	35.9	19.5	20.6	21.1	26.5	28.4	28.5	23.0	28.1	:
RO	:	27.9	28.6	:	18.0	17.7	:	29.1	:	:	:	:
SI	39.1	39.3	39.1	24.7	24.2	24.2	37.1	37.5	37.6	:	:	:
SK	39.4	31.5	29.3	24.2	22.2	20.2	39.4	32.9	30.3	33.3	19.1	18.1
FI	47.0	44.0	43.5	27.4	27.6	27.3	45.3	41.5	41.5	30.9	27.5	24.6
SE	50.3	49.5	48.9	27.2	28.1	28.1	48.0	44.7	44.5	26.6	:	:
UK	35.0	36.6	37.4	19.9	18.7	18.5	24.8	25.3	25.5	31.8	36.8	39.7
NO	42.4	43.5	44.0	31.0	29.7	31.1	38.2	38.5	38.0	:	:	:

Source: European Commission Services.

* Implicit tax rates (ITR) measure the effective average tax burden on different types of economic income or activities, i.e. on labour, consumption and capital. ITR express aggregate tax revenues as a percentage of the potential tax base for each field (see footnote 4).

** EU27 and EA15 overall tax ratios are computed on the basis of a GDP-weighted average. For all other indicators the aggregates are calculated as arithmetic averages of the Member States for which the respective annual data are available.

: Data not available

Environmental tax revenues declined to lowest level in a decade

Despite intense public interest in environmental issues, environmental tax revenues in the EU27 have been declining since 1999; their 2006 level, 2.6% of GDP, is the lowest in a decade. This drop is due to lower energy taxation, as revenues from the other environmental taxes have remained broadly stable.

Environmental tax revenue, % of GDP

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Environmental taxes
EU27*	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.9	2.8	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.6	2.6
EA15*	2.7	2.7	2.7	2.8	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.7	2.6	2.6	2.5
Energy taxes
EU27*	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.2	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.9
EA15*	2.1	2.1	2.0	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.9	1.8

* GDP-weighted averages.

 

Top personal and corporate income tax rates on average lower in the new Member States

The top personal income tax rate differs substantially within the EU. The highest top rates⁵ on 2007 personal income were found inDenmark (59.0%), Sweden (56.6%), the Netherlands (52.0%) and Finland (50.5%), and the lowest in Romania (16.0%),Slovakia (19.0%), Estonia (22.0%) and Bulgaria (24.0%).

For corporate income tax, the highest adjusted top statutory tax rates⁶ on 2008 income were recorded in Malta (35.0%), France(34.4%), Belgium (34.0%) and Italy (31.4%), and the lowest in Bulgaria and Cyprus (both 10.0%), Ireland (12.5%), Latvia andLithuania (both 15.0%).

Over recent years, top rates have shown a clear downward trend in the whole of the EU, particularly in the corporate area. In 2008,Germany (-8.9 percentage points), Italy (-5.9), the Czech Republic (-3.0), and Lithuania (-3.0) decreased their top rates most significantly. On average, the new Member States display markedly lower top rates.

Top statutory personal income tax rate on 2007 income, %

RO	SK	EE	BG	LV	LT	CY	CZ	MT	EU27*	LU	HU	EL	FR	PL
16.0	19.0	22.0	24.0	25.0	27.0	30.0	32.0	35.0	38.7	39.0	40.0	40.0	40.0	40.0

 

UK	EA15*	IE	SI	PT	IT	ES	DE	BE	AT	FI	NL	SE	DK
40.0	40.2	41.0	41.0	42.0	43.0	43.0	47.5	50.0	50.0	50.5	52.0	56.6	59.0

Source: European Commission Services.

* Arithmetic average.

Adjusted top statutory tax rate* on corporate income in 2008, %

BG	CY	IE	LV	LT	RO	PL	SK	EE	CZ	HU	SI	EU27**	EL	AT
10.0	10.0	12.5	15.0	15.0	16.0	19.0	19.0	21.0	21.0	21.3	22.0	23.6	25.0	25.0

 

DK	NL	FI	PT	EA15**	SE	LU	DE	UK	ES	IT	BE	FR	MT
25.0	25.5	26.0	26.5	26.5	28.0	29.6	29.8	30.0	30.0	31.4	34.0	34.4	35.0

Source: European Commission Services.

* Adjusted top statutory tax rate on corporate income takes into account corporate income tax (CIT) and, if they exist, surcharges, local taxes, or even additional taxes levied on tax bases that are similar but often not identical to the CIT. In order to take these features into account, the simple CIT rate has been adjusted for comparison purposes.

** Arithmetic average.

1. The tax-to-GDP ratio measures the overall tax burden as the total amount of taxes and compulsory actual social security contributions as a percentage of GDP. This indicator is widely used to measure the overall tax burden but includes the taxes that are raised on social transfers. Because social transfer recipients often receive directly a net payment they do not feel the burden of paying taxes. This definition differs slightly from the one used in the Statistics in Focus, Economy and Finance, 47/2008, “Tax revenue in the EU”, which includes the voluntary and imputed social contributions. The difference between the two measures amounts to around 1½% of GDP for the EU and euro area aggregates.
2. EU27: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK). Euro area (EA15): Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland.
3. “Taxation trends in the European Union: 1995-2006“, EUR 40 (excl. VAT), only available in English. This publication is based on data available on 19 February 2008. It can be purchased from authorised sales agents or downloaded free of charge in PDF format from the Eurostat or the DG TAXUD website: 
4. Implicit tax rates (ITR) measure the effective average tax burden on different types of economic income or activities, i.e. on labour, consumption and capital. ITR express aggregate tax revenues as a percentage of the potential tax base for each field.

The ITR on labour is the ratio between taxes and social contributions paid on earned income and the cost of labour. The numerator includes all direct and indirect taxes and employees’ and employers’ social contributions levied on employed labour income, while the denominator amounts to the total compensation of employees working in the economic territory increased by taxes on wage bill and payroll. It is calculated for employed labour only (so excluding the tax burden falling on social transfers, including pensions). The average may conceal important variations in the tax burden across the income distribution.

The ITR on consumption is the ratio between the revenue from consumption taxes and the final consumption expenditure of households on the economic territory.

The ITR on capital includes, in the numerator, the taxes levied on the income earned from savings and investments by households and corporations and taxes related to stocks of capital stemming from savings and investment in previous periods. The denominator of the capital ITR is a proxy of the world-wide capital and business income of Member States’ residents for domestic tax purposes. Trends in the capital ITR reflect a wide range of factors and it should be interpreted with caution.

All ITRs for the EU and the euro area are calculated as arithmetic averages.

1. The top statutory personal income tax rate reflects the tax rate for the highest income bracket. For Denmark, Finland and Sweden the municipal income tax is also included. German data include the solidarity surcharge. The Hungarian rate includes the solidarity tax.
2. The adjusted top statutory tax rate on corporate income takes into account corporate income tax (CIT) and, if they exist, surcharges, local taxes, or even additional taxes levied on tax bases that are similar but often not identical to the CIT. In order to take these features into account, the simple CIT rate has been adjusted for comparison purposes.