Out of the 35 member countries that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, workers in Belgium pay the most in taxes—a whopping 54 percent of their wages.
The OECD’s Taxing Wages 2017 report shows that the highest taxes are paid in European countries. Germany, Hungary, France, Italy, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovenia round out the top 10 countries with the highest taxes.
Taxes on wages in each of the top 10 nations exceed 40 percent of annual income.
The average taxes across all member countries is more than one-third of wages. The ways in which taxes are calculated matters a lot, too. For example, Belgium tops the list when taxes are calculated for individuals with no children and who receive no family benefits. However, France tops the most-taxed list for people when family and children are taken into account.
The least taxed OECD country is Chile, which levies just 7 percent of people’s wages. The next least taxes on the list are in New Zealand, which taxes 17.9 percent of wages; Mexico, 20.1 percent; Switzerland, 21.8 percent; South Korea, 22.2 percent, and Ireland, 27.1 percent.
The United States taxes at 31.7 percent on average for individuals.
As the U.S. government begins negotiating a tax overhaul in Congress and considers a 10 percent repatriation tax on monies banked overseas, it’s well worth examining the tax rates of other countries and how Social Security benefits play a role in higher contributions.
In April, the White House floated a tax plan that included cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent. The plan reduced the number of tax brackets to three: 10 percent; 25 percent and 35 percent. It also doubled deduction rates and repealed the alternative minimum tax, which increases tax rates on wealthier individuals.
The plan would increase the federal deficit by nearly $400 billion per year, according to The Tax Foundation. 