Effective tax rates

A person earning 100,000 in Sweden has 37.5 per cent of it deducted as income tax,according to an annual survey of effective tax rates by KPMG,an accounting firm. Swedens income-tax rates are among the worlds highest,but the addition of social-security contributions means that people earning this sum in Slovenia,India or Italy take home an even smaller share of their gross earnings. Slovenias government deducts almost 55 per cent from earnings of 100,000. Social-security levies eat up a chunky 22 per cent of earnings at that level in France,but low income taxes bring the total take,at 36 per cent,into line with that in other rich nations. Switzerlands effective tax rate on the fairly well-off is one of the lowest in the world.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2009