Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Rather taxing

In my quest to extol the benefits of Europe - and the fact that the UK doesn't have it all bad - have a look at the top rates of tax and the levels of income at which they apply. It comes from a Parliamentary Answer in the Lords yesterday. I've rejigged it to show how many countries besides Britain have higher top tax rates - we're about in the middle, although undoubtedly, fewer Greeks and Portuguese are likely to pay 40%.

But at least Britain's isn't like Denmark or Belgium - where we would be paying higher tax rates at lower levels of income. Perhaps instead of grumbling UKIP activists could emigrate to other parts of the EU and see how good we've got it (in terms of tax, if not in public services).




































































































































Rank Country Top rate of national income tax (%) Level of taxable income above which top rates apply (£)
1 Denmark 59 £27,597
2 Sweden 57 £32,453
3 Belgium 53.63 £20,352
4= Finland 52 £37,591
4= Netherlands 52 £34,123
6= Austria 50 £34,270
6= Slovenia 50 £23,756
8 France 48.09 £32,390
9 Germany 47.48 £35,133
10 Italy 45.63 £47,157
11 Spain 45 £30,315
12 Ireland 42 £18,863
13= UK 40 £31,400
13= Greece 40 £15,764
13= Portugal 40 £35,922
13= Poland 40 £10,480
17 Luxembourg 38.95 £23,242
18 Hungary 38 £3,942
19 Malta 35 £10,399
20 Lithuania 33 £0
21 Czech Republic 32 £6,985
22 Cyprus 30 £22,999
23 Estonia 26 £0
24 Latvia 25 £0
25 Slovakia 19 £0


Source: Hansard, 25 May 2004 : Column WA126

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