Income tax drop as govts compete on tax
Income taxes have dropped globally as more labour mobility forces governments to compete on tax
Income taxes around the world have fallen by an average 2.5% as increased
labour mobility has forced governments to compete on tax, according to one of
KPMG
International’s latest surveys.
The KPMG’s Individual Tax Rate Survey 2008, its first cross-border survey of
personal tax rates, revealed 33 of 87 countries had reduced personal taxes in
past six years and only seven had increased them.
Worldwide, top personal tax rates dropped from an average 31.3% in 2003 to
28.8% in 2008. But EU taxpayers still pay the highest rates, at an average of
36.4%, followed by those in the Asia Pacific at 34.6% and Latin America at
26.9%.
At a country level, the world’s highest tax rates are paid in Denmark, at a
top rate of 59% for the six-year period, while the lowest EU rate is in
Bulgaria, which has just introduced a flat rate of 10%, down from 24%.