These Are The Nations With The Highest (And Lowest) Marginal Income Tax Rates

It’s tax filing time for quite a few countries, as their financial year comes to end.

How differently do countries tax their citizens? Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao took a look at the top marginal individual income tax rates of nearly 150 countries to compare and contrast differences.

Data for this map is sourced from PwC’s Worldwide Tax Summaries, updated between Aug 2024–Feb 2025.

Of course there are limitations to the data. Only the highest portion of an individual’s income is taxed at this rate, and brackets vary significantly on how much money falls into that pool.

Furthermore, property, sales, or other indirect taxes are not included. It also omits state, provincial, and municipal taxes

Ranked: Countries by their Highest Personal Income Tax Rate

Western European countries on average have the highest headline income tax rates in the world.

Per the source, seven countries have a 50%+ top rate, and six of those are in Europe, led by Denmark at 55.9%.

Rank	Country	ISO Code	Headline Personal Income Tax Rate
1	Denmark	DNK	55.9
2	Finland	FIN	55
3	Luxembourg	LUX	51
4	Austria	AUT	50
5	Belgium	BEL	50
6	Israel	ISR	50
7	Slovenia	SVN	50
8	Netherlands	NLD	49.5
9	Portugal	PRT	48
10	Norway	NOR	47.4
11	Spain	ESP	47
12	Switzerland	CHE	45.5
13	Australia	AUS	45
14	China	CHN	45
15	Germany	DEU	45
16	France	FRA	45
17	UK	GBR	45
18	Japan	JPN	45
19	South Korea	KOR	45
20	South Africa	ZAF	45
21	Greece	GRC	44
22	Italy	ITA	43
23	Senegal	SEN	43
24	Papua New Guinea	PNG	42
25	Chile	CHL	40
26	DRC	COD	40
27	Congo	COG	40
28	Gabon	GAB	40
29	Guyana	GUY	40
30	Ireland	IRL	40
31	Mauritania	MRT	40
32	New Caledonia	NCL	40
33	Türkiye	TUR	40
34	Taiwan	TWN	40
35	Uganda	UGA	40
36	Colombia	COL	39
37	India	IND	39
38	New Zealand	NZL	39
39	Cameroon	CMR	38.5
40	Morocco	MAR	38
41	Ecuador	ECU	37
42	Namibia	NAM	37
43	U.S.	USA	37
44	Zambia	ZMB	37
45	Uruguay	URY	36
46	Croatia	HRV	35.4
47	Argentina	ARG	35
48	Cyprus	CYP	35
49	Algeria	DZA	35
50	Ethiopia	ETH	35
51	Ghana	GHA	35
52	Indonesia	IDN	35
53	Kenya	KEN	35
54	Mexico	MEX	35
55	Malta	MLT	35
56	Pakistan	PAK	35
57	Philippines	PHL	35
58	Thailand	THA	35
59	Tunisia	TUN	35
60	Vietnam	VNM	35
61	Venezuela	VEN	34
62	Canada	CAN	33
63	Latvia	LVA	33
64	Puerto Rico	PRI	33
65	Eswatini	SWZ	33
66	Côte d’Ivoire	CIV	32
67	Lithuania	LTU	32
68	Mozambique	MOZ	32
69	Poland	POL	32
70	Iceland	ISL	31.35
71	Bangladesh	BGD	30
72	Jamaica	JAM	30
73	Jordan	JOR	30
74	Saint Lucia (assumed “Saint”)	KNA	30
75	Malaysia	MYS	30
76	Nicaragua	NIC	30
77	Peru	PER	30
78	Rwanda	RWA	30
79	El Salvador	SLV	30
80	Chad	TCD	30
81	Tanzania	TZA	30
82	Barbados	BRB	28.5
83	Brazil	BRA	27.5
84	Cabo Verde	CPV	27.5
85	Egypt	EGY	27.5
86	Angola	AGO	25
87	Azerbaijan	AZE	25
88	Botswana	BWA	25
89	Costa Rica	CRI	25
90	Dominican Republic	DOM	25
91	Gibraltar	GIB	25
92	Equatorial Guinea	GNQ	25
93	Honduras	HND	25
94	Laos	LAO	25
95	Lebanon	LBN	25
96	Myanmar	MMR	25
97	Panama	PAN	25
98	Slovakia	SVK	25
99	Trinidad & Tobago	TTO	25
100	Nigeria	NGA	24
101	Singapore	SGP	24
102	Albania	ALB	23
103	Czechia	CZE	23
104	Liechtenstein	LIE	22.4
105	Isle of Man	IMN	22
106	Armenia	ARM	20
107	Estonia	EST	20
108	Georgia	GEO	20
109	Guernsey	GGY	20
110	Jersey	JEY	20
111	Cambodia	KHM	20
112	Madagascar	MDG	20
113	Mongolia	MNG	20
114	Mauritius	MUS	20
115	Serbia	SRB	20
116	Sweden	SWE	20
117	Ukraine	UKR	18
118	Hong Kong	HKG	16
119	Hungary	HUN	15
120	Iraq	IRQ	15
121	Montenegro	MNE	15
122	Palestinian Territories	PSE	15
123	Russia	RUS	15
124	Bolivia	BOL	13
125	Libya	LBY	13
126	Macau	MAC	12
127	Moldova	MDA	12
128	Uzbekistan	UZB	12
129	Bulgaria	BGR	10
130	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	10
131	Greenland	GRL	10
132	Kazakhstan	KAZ	10
133	North Macedonia	MKD	10
134	Paraguay	PRY	10
135	Romania	ROU	10
136	Timor-Leste	TLS	10
137	Kosovo	XKX	10
138	Guatemala	GTM	7
139	UAE	ARE	0
140	Bahrain	BHR	0
141	Bermuda	BMU	0
142	Cayman Islands	CYM	0
143	Kuwait	KWT	0
144	Oman	OMN	0
145	Qatar	QAT	0
146	Saudi Arabia	SAU	0

Note: Denmark’s figure includes a mandatory labor market tax for all wage earners in the country. Scotland pays a different rate than the rest of the UK.

But as always, the fine print contains more useful information. For example, in Denmark, the top bracket for employment income is 15%. However, this combines with the bottom bracket tax and mandatory healthcare and municipal contributions to raise the income tax ceiling. Finally, income from shares and dividends also attracts a high rate of 42%.

In the U.S., the 37% headline rate is only applicable to income above $609,000 for individuals. Of course, U.S. states tax their residents as well.

And finally, several Middle Eastern countries—also oil producers—don’t charge an income tax.

The Pros and Cons of Western Europe’s High Tax Rates

Individual income taxes often make up the largest source of government revenues.

Thus, higher taxes help fund extensive public services like healthcare, education, and social security.

It can also potentially reduce income inequality by redistributing wealth, supporting lower-income citizens, and fostering social cohesion.

However, less disposable income leads to less consumer spending. And better-skilled workers with higher earnings may relocate, leading to brain drain from the region.

High earners can avoid taxes by routing their incomes or businesses through low tax jurisdictions. Check out Ranked: The World’s Top 10 Tax Havens to see how much offshore wealth is parked around the globe.