The 10 Highest Taxed Countries
There’s nothing delicious about taxes but there is something that this photo has in common with very high tax rates. With tomorrow being April 15th, the deadline for filing taxes in the United States, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at the highest tax rates in the world.
To keep this simple I’m just going to list the 10 most heavily taxed countries for single people with no children. I figure this is a good bracket to look at since most of us have fallen into this category at some point, even if we aren’t today.
These tax rates are based on OECD findings for 2006 and look at the average percentage of total taxes paid on earnings (income, social security, health care, etc).
10)Poland-43.7%
9)Finland-44.1%
8)Netherlands-44.4%
7)Italy-45.2 %
6)Sweden-47.9%
5)Austria-48.1%
4)France-50.2%
3)Hungary-51.0%
2)Germany-52.5%
1)Belgium-55.1%!
Wow. Belgians not only like waffles but they sure do like taxes! I know Europeans generally believe in paying higher taxes for the greater good of society, but what on Earth is the Belgian government doing? I don’t see them with 150,00 troops stationed in some cursed Middle Eastern country.
A few other interesting countries of note are The United States at 28.9%, Canada at 32.1%, Australia at 28.1% and the country that the UN recently named the best country to live, Iceland at 28.6%. It’s interesting to see how similar these tax rates are and the fact that the United States is the only one of these four that doesn’t offer socialized health care. So Americans, take it easy with those delicious Belgian waffles.
Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons
10 opinions for The 10 Highest Taxed Countries
The Toronto Traveler
Apr 16, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Very interesting that Iceland and Australia both have lower rates than the US. I thought Americans were supposed to be the ones obsessed with lower taxes?
Alex
Apr 16, 2008 at 11:36 pm
This was surprising, Americans are obsessed with lower taxes, unfortunately we just don’t get as much bang for our buck (actually in one sense we definitely do!) as some other nations.
The Toronto Traveler
Apr 17, 2008 at 3:59 am
Yeah, well your defense budget is what, like 600 billion dollars? And then another 10 billlion for the nuclear arsenal and god only knows how much else for all the wars, since those aren’t a part of the defense budget.
When you take all that out and factor in the still rather low tax rate, not much left for anything else.
Does the Netherlands rate go down for people that are married or with dependents? 40+% seems a bit high for people living in that situation.
b5media - Travel the World the b5media Way
Apr 17, 2008 at 4:11 pm
[…] Sirened lists the 10 highest taxed countries so you can see where your country ranks […]
Alex
Apr 18, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Justin-It definitely does if you have dependents but I’m not 100% sure about married couples with no dependents. My wife and I will find out when we file our taxes next year as to how much we pay to the Dutch gov’t!
paul francis
Jun 20, 2008 at 4:04 pm
these figures are WRONG! AUSTRALIAS LOWEST TAX RATE IS 33.3% ON PERSONAL INCOME TAX,AND IT GOES TO 49% AFTER THE FIRST $400
Alex
Jun 22, 2008 at 3:30 pm
after $400?
paul francis
Jun 22, 2008 at 3:36 pm
yes alex it may be a little higher now,but as soon as you do some overtime we pay 49%,australia is the highest taxed country in the world,in my opinion,when you consider all the other taxes as well,we get ripped off badly,the wealthy dont pay much tax though,oh and politicians are exempt.
Alex
Jun 22, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I thought that number seemed low, but your numbers seem a smidge high. Although yes, my wife has told me that the Aussie government taxes the hell out of you on a 2nd job.
And then taxes on cigarettes and alcohol in Australia are VERY high. $10 Aussie a pack for smokes and 6 packs of beers at the store are minimum $10 Aus, that’s very expensive.
Here in the Netherlands cigarettes are 4 Euros and you can get a 6 pack of Hoegardeen at the store for 3.69 Euros (that would run you about $15 Aus in Australia). So taxes on cigs and alcohol here is much less than Australia.
paul francis
Jun 22, 2008 at 3:59 pm
a pack of cigs and 6 pack are far more than $10 eack,thats just the tax alone
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