The total municipal tax rate consists of two parts, the municipal tax and the county council tax. The slight increase in the total tax rate is due to an increase in the average county council tax. However, only one county council, Västerbotten, has chosen to raise the tax rate. The county council tax is unchanged in the remaining counties.

Weaker increase than usual

The total municipal tax rate has increased in recent years by about 0.13 percentage points per year. The increase for 2017 is 0.02 percentage points, which is the weakest increase for the past five years.

The largest changes are for inhabitants of Lekeberg and Värmdö

The largest increase in the total municipal tax rate next year will be for inhabitants of Lekeberg municipality; while the residents of Värmdö will experience the largest decrease in the tax rate. The tax rate in Lekeberg will be 33.98 percent after the increase, which represents an increase of one percentage point. The tax rate for inhabitants of Värmdö will become 31.26 percent, which represents a decrease of 0.7 percentage points.

Dorotea has the highest tax rate and Vellinge has the lowest

The inhabitants of Dorotea municipality will have the country's highest total municipal tax rate next year at 35.15 percent.

The tax base increased by 5.0 percent

The tax base increased by an average 5.0 percent between fiscal years 2014 and 2015. This is a larger increase compared with the previous year when the increase was 3.2 percent. The municipalities of Ekerö and Sundbyberg had the largest increase in the tax base at 8.8 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively. Only one municipality experienced a decrease in its tax base. This was Pajala municipality with a 0.3 percent decrease in its tax base.

Tax capacity is highest in Danderyd municipality

Tax capacity, which is based on the taxable earned income and population of Sweden in 2015, amounted to SEK 201 878 per inhabitant. This was an increase of 3.9 percent and represents a sharp increase over the 2.1 percent increase in the previous year. Danderyd municipality has the highest tax capacity in the country at 78 percent above the national average.

Uniform burial fee beginning 2017

The Swedish Parliament has decided on a uniform burial fee beginning 2017. The new fee, which amounts to 0.246 percent, will apply to all persons who are registered in areas where the Church of Sweden handles burial services. In Stockholm and Tranås, the municipality is responsible for burial services. Thus, the inhabitants of these municipalities will pay a burial fee that differs from the new uniform fee. The average burial fee for the whole country is 0.23 percent.

The next Statistical News in this series will be published on 2017-12-15 at 09:30.