2015-05-16

Worldwide tax rates

I recently stumbled upon a website showing most taxes in various countries:

Worldwide-tax

I immediately decided to rank them by best and worst case taxation. I processed the data in a spreadsheet.
I estimated the taxation of fixed amounts (like DKK 900) as percentage of the Numbeo salary.

You can see the raw data here, and how much you're left with below, in the overall economic process. Of course, there can be errors, but these data are much more realistic than other so-called indicators.
As you can see, hiring more lawyers in certain countries gives you an advantage, as the best case scenario can ensure you keep more than 88% of your money.
There are countries with vast differences between the worst and best cases, like Gibraltar, Morocco, Sweden, and the Netherlands. I think this is wrong, since it encourages greater separation between those who can afford an accountant/tax specialist and those who can't, and are signs of intervening in the economy.
Also, in France, you only get to keep between 19% and 30% of the money you earn.

3 comments:

  1. 1) In Romania you pay 16% tax + CAS, so you are left with more then 38%. In Switzerland also, I pay about 20% taxes. I don't know how you got your numbers.
    2) Difference between best/worst case scenario: In Sweden for example, as far as I know there is progressive taxation. If you make 1 million $$$, no matter how many lawyers/accountants you have, they cannot make it vanish so that you are in the lowest bracket. Maybe they can slide into the one just below it, but that's a small difference, which is probably expected.

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    Replies
    1. If you consider what it takes for you to get a product or service, which is one TRADE, the following happens:
      - You pay for the product: and the VAT is taken.
      - The employer pays income or profit tax: some more is taken. (This step I misunderstood in my analysis - I only included the min or max of corporate/individual tax)
      - The employer pays social security/health contributions to the employees: more is taken.
      - The employee gets a gross salary, out of which MORE social security/health contributions are paid, as well as income tax.
      - The employee offers you the product/service. (can't tax actual goods/services, so there is no tax here).

      For Romania, here is a chart: http://i.imgur.com/2bmkrXK.png
      And a calculator, but which doesn't include VAT: http://www.clubullibertatii.ro/calculator-salariu/

      Sure, some differences in taxation can be attributed to progressive taxation, but anywhere you are there can be "fiscal optimization", if you can find creative enough lawyers and accountants. Here is the example of IKEA, which is a "charity": http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/11/ikea-swedish-furniturecompanyidentitytaxavoidance.html

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    2. For Romania: the social security contribution decreased with about 5% in the mean time, and the VAT for food will decrease to 9%. But that's still a small portion - and it means Romanians will get fatter, because the activities to burn food won't get cheaper, hehe.

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