The new EU Tax Commissioner is Mr Algirdas Šemeta, who formerly served two terms as Lithuania's Finance Minister. He had been the Financial Programming and Budget Commissioner in the previous Commission.
His first term as Finance Minister was during a period when Corporation Tax rates in Lithuania declined from 29% to 15%. It now stands at 20%, but with a reduced rate of 13% for profits below about €145,000. According to EU statistics, Lithuania exhibits the third lowest total tax burden (including social contributions) in the EU (29.9 % of GDP against an EU-27 average of 37.5 %). This level is below those in the other Baltic States.