The Taxman Cometh

One of these days we will no longer be living in Belgium and for the record, I don't want to forget some important things, both good and not as good, about living here.  

Today, it's taxes.

As you probably know, "tax liberation day" is when the average worker has theoretically earned enough money to pay all their taxes for the year to the government.    

You Americans have probably forgotten when that was, because for you, it was back in April.

But for Belgians . . . and for us!, it was just last week.

Belgium is way behind America to reach this day (by nearly 4 months!), and it is the last European country to get to this day too.

Have I mentioned taxes are high here?  Not just income tax, but a sales tax of 21% is also painful.  Ouch.

If you google the country with the highest taxes, you'll usually find one country at the top of any heap and it's often used as a comparison to other countries.  Even our American friends who live and pay taxes in the U.K. think their taxes are some of the highest worldwide, but they aren't.

So, what did all that googling turn up?

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Forbes Investing

Countries With The Highest And Lowest Taxes

One of the world’s highest tax rates, and the highest of Western European countries, has been imposed on the citizens of Belgium. On average, Belgium taxpayers are taxed a marginal rate of 54.9%. 

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Which country has the highest tax rate?

At the top end of the distribution we have Belgium where single people pay 43% of earnings in income tax and social security contributions (or national insurance), followed by Germany with 39.9%.  The lowest rates are paid in Chile at 7% and Mexico at 9.5%.

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Among developed nations, Americans’ tax bills are below average

A single, childless American making the average wage in 2013 ($48,774), for instance, paid 24.5% of her gross income in federal income tax and payroll taxes. Such a person living in Belgium, by contrast, would pay 42.4% of her gross income. An American married couple, both working (one at the average wage, one at two-thirds of it) and with two kids, paid 19.1% of their gross income in taxes; a similar Belgian family would have paid double that rate, or 38.4%.

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Yes, you read that right.  The average couple in Belgium pays more than twice the income tax that an American couple pays.  That. Is. Huge.