Here's how 41 countries tax millionaires and billionaires

Taxing the wealthy in the United States at a higher rate is an idea that has become popular among many progressives, specifically high marginal tax rates on personal income. In fact, it has been at the center of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential run, both in 2016 and 2020.

But what does it look like in other countries that have significantly higher marginal tax rates than the United States? A recent report from The Tax Foundation, a non-profit tax policy research group, compared the rate at which 41 countries tax their top earners.

The findings concluded, perhaps not surprisingly, that Nordic and Western European countries have the highest effective tax rates of all the countries reviewed.

According to the report’s authors, “the political discussion around taxing high-earners usually revolves around the income tax, but in order to get a complete picture of the tax burden high-income earners face, it is important to consider effective marginal tax rates.”

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What is the effective marginal tax rate?

Effective marginal tax rate refers to the graduated levels of taxation as taxpayers have greater amounts of income. So, in the United States, for example, the highest tax bracket is 37%. That doesn’t mean all income would be taxed at 37%, though. It’s only the amount over that tax bracket threshold.

The authors go on to say that “effective marginal tax rate answers the question, ‘If a worker gets a raise such that the total cost to the employer increases by one dollar, how much of that is appropriated by the government in the form of income tax, social security contributions, and consumption taxes?’ In principle, it does not matter how the tax burden is distributed among the various taxes—all taxes that affect the return to work should be taken into account.”

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Is it good tax policy?

The report’s authors conclude that may not be in a country’s best interest, however.

“Countries should be cautious about placing excessive tax burdens on high-income earners, for several reasons. In the short run, high marginal tax rates induce tax avoidance and tax evasion, and can cause high-income earners to reduce their work effort or hours. Under reasonable assumptions about behavioural responses to taxation, the Laffer curve—which shows the relationship between the tax rate and tax revenues—peaks around 60-75 percent for high incomes. This implies that many OECD countries are close to the tax revenue peak or have surpassed it. In the long run, high marginal tax rates can affect career choices and migration decisions. They also lower the return to education and entrepreneurship.”

Among the countries with the highest effective tax rates, the top six all have high payroll taxes, the study found. And countries vary significantly when it comes to where the top marginal tax rate starts to apply. As the study authors note, “mapping this would be very complicated, as taxes may have different thresholds. For example, the threshold for solidarity taxes may be different than for the top income tax bracket. It should also be noted that the top marginal tax rate is by no means always the highest tax rate, since social security contributions often only apply up to a ceiling.”

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Methodology

For each country and tax, the authors identified the tax rate in the highest tax bracket.

“Often, social security contributions are only payable up to a ceiling. In this case, the marginal tax rate for high-income earners is zero. We use the national average of local and regional taxes, unless otherwise specified.”

For full methodology, see page 17 of the complete report. Each rate is made up of income tax, payroll tax, social contributions and consumption tax.

Here are the effective marginal tax rates in 41 countries with some of the highest tax rates in the world:

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