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