VILNIUS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund has urged Lithuania to raise taxes, stressing that budget sustainability cannot be ensured without additional tax revenues, especially with defense spending on the rise and an aging population, Lithuanian business news portal vz.lt reported on Tuesday.
The IMF estimates that Lithuania collects one of the lowest shares of tax revenue in the European Union, which accounts for 22.3 percent of its gross domestic product, compared to the EU average of 26.1 percent. In addition, according to the IMF, Lithuania has an untapped tax potential of up to 9 percent of GDP, which could be realized through tax system reforms.
The tax changes adopted in Lithuania earlier this year could bring in an additional 0.6 percent of GDP in revenue from January 2026, according to the IMF. ■
