Which nation has the highest income tax rates?
There are enormous differences in effective income tax rates between countries, because of differences between the rates of taxation, the width of the zero tax band (basic personal exemption), the effect of tax relief provisions (other exemptions), the impact of marginal tax rates, and whether or not the country uses taxation credits that are independent of marginal tax rates. These factors make direct comparisons quite difficult. The “highest” rate of income tax varies with both the income group that an individual finds themselves in and the country in which they reside. For example, a person who earns the median income in country ‘A’ may may be taxed at a lower rate than a person who earns the median income in country ‘B’, but the situation might well be reversed at higher and/or lower income levels. Because of these variations, lobby groups can easily manipulate income tax data to provide answers to support just about any point of view they want to take. It becomes easy to manipulat
