Do Europeans really pay more in taxes?

[miri]

Who pays more?

Europeans with their upper brackets around 40%

Or

Americans with their upper brackets at 35% + state income tax + social security/medicare + health insurance cost

 

[poncherelli2]

Higher VAT and gas taxes come to mind

 

[thegimp03]

I think there's a site somewhere that lists all this out. If I remember correctly, some European countries were paying the least amount in taxes while the U.S. was quite high.

 

[Yanagi]

Originally posted by: thegimp03
I think there's a site somewhere that lists all this out. If I remember correctly, some European countries were paying the least amount in taxes while the U.S. was quite high.

Well, Sweden is not one of those countries. The taxes here are pretty steep once you count all of them in. And dont get me started on gas prices.. Let me do a quick calculation for you.

$1 = 6.07 SEK
1 US Gallon = 3.785 liters.
Gas price per liter in Swedish currency: 13.49 SEK
So lets se how much a gallon is in SEK. 13.49x3.785 = 51.05 SEK
Hmm, I wonder how much that would be in dollars: 51.05/6.07 = $8.4 per gallon

You still wanna complain about your gas prices? 😀

However most of that cost is actually purely Tax related.
We also have 33% income tax, 25% VAT on everything we purchase and so on.

God I miss Ireland some times.. 🙁

 

[soccerballtux]

Great Britain is more like $9.50/gallon.

 

[Yanagi]

Yeah, i think GB is the most expensive country in europe. Allthough i think norway comes pretty close aswell.

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Great Britain is more like $9.50/gallon.

Well the lower waged employees in the UK do make a lot more than the US. The minimum wage in the UK is $11.41 compared to $5.85 here.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

 

[HannibalX]

I don't pay city or state income tax, only federal. Of course I have to pay state sales tax like everyone else which is BS. I pay county property tax.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Great Britain is more like $9.50/gallon.

Well the lower waged employees in the UK do make a lot more than the US. The minimum wage in the UK is $11.41 compared to $5.85 here.

The difference is in the UK their min wage is designed to be a living wage. In the US the min wage IS NOT designed or intended to be a living wage.

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

Germans pay 0% tax on income from $0 - $12,094

and only 15% on income from $12,097 - $82,305

Germans do get taxed 42% on income above $82,305 though, but below that the tax rate is much lower than the US.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Great Britain is more like $9.50/gallon.

Well the lower waged employees in the UK do make a lot more than the US. The minimum wage in the UK is $11.41 compared to $5.85 here.

The difference is in the UK their min wage is designed to be a living wage. In the US the min wage IS NOT designed or intended to be a living wage.

Which means Brits who just want to make money on the side are fucked because they are not allowed to work.

 

[Amused]

European Tax Burden High, But Falling

by Chris Atkins


Eurostat?the official statistical arm of the European Union (EU)?released new data on taxes as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in EU countries. Overall, the data reveal that taxes in the EU account for 39.3 percent of GDP.

Overall taxes are down .2 percent from 2003. The report attributes this decline to tax cutting in Italy and Germany.

The former communist countries in Eastern Europe generally have the lowest tax burdens in the EU. Lithuania (28.4 percent), Latvia (28.6 percent), Slovakia (30.3 percent) and Poland (32.9 percent) are among the countries with the lowest tax burdens. Ireland?which levies the lowest corporate income tax rate in the OECD (12.5 percent)?also has a low tax burden (30.2 percent).

Central and northern EU countries tend to have the highest tax burdens. Sweden is number one at 50.5 percent, followed by Denmark (48.8 percent), Belgium (45.2 percent) and Finland (44.3 percent). Other notables include France (43.4 percent), Italy (40.6 percent), and the United Kingdom (36.0 percent).

Japan and the U.S. have a much lower tax burden (approximately 14 percent lower, according to the report) than EU countries. This is a bit ironic, considering that Japan (39.5 percent) and the U.S. (39.3 percent) have the highest combined corporate income tax rates in the OECD (a trend that we reported in this fiscal fact).

http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/1508.html

http://economistsview.typepad....5/the_us_tax_burd.html

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

Germans pay 0% tax on income from $0 - $12,094

and only 15% on income from $12,097 - $82,305

Germans do get taxed 42% on income above $82,305 though, but below that the tax rate is much lower than the US.

That doesn't sound bad at all. What's average income in Germany? I'm assuming most people fall in the 15% bracket.

 

[Bignate603]

Honestly, it doesn't matter how much the government takes out of your paycheck, it mostly matters how much the government takes, period. If they start taxing businesses the consumers will end up paying for it, effectively taxing you. If they start taxing a product, you pay for it. They could take 0% out of your paycheck, and tax all the stores ridiculous amounts and you'd end up with less money in your pocket than through income tax. Looking at taxes as a percentage of GDP is a good way of thinking about it, and it shows that the US is pretty low.

Taxes as a percentage of per capita GDP would be even better though.

 

[Eeezee]

That depends on what you mean

Income tax - not really. I think in Switzerland it's less than 10%. It's popular for people to commute into Switzerland for work (from France anyway, where income tax is higher I think)

Other taxes - oh yeah. Gas costs a ton in Europe because they tax the hell out of it. Everything costs a bit more.

 

[Spineshank]

I was just over in Ireland and it was very expensive there.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Great Britain is more like $9.50/gallon.

£1.25 per litre of 99oct stuff!

Koing

 

[alphatarget1]

Last time I checked Germans pay 42% income tax (if you make a "decent" amount), 19% sales (VAT?) tax, and they still have to buy their own insurance.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:EStTarif.PNG

EDIT: only 42% it looks like, used to be over 50%.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

Germans pay 0% tax on income from $0 - $12,094

and only 15% on income from $12,097 - $82,305

Germans do get taxed 42% on income above $82,305 though, but below that the tax rate is much lower than the US.

If that's true, then very interesting...

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

Germans pay 0% tax on income from $0 - $12,094

and only 15% on income from $12,097 - $82,305

Germans do get taxed 42% on income above $82,305 though, but below that the tax rate is much lower than the US.

If that's true, then very interesting...

Are we talking about Euros or Dollars?

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

Germans pay 0% tax on income from $0 - $12,094

and only 15% on income from $12,097 - $82,305

Germans do get taxed 42% on income above $82,305 though, but below that the tax rate is much lower than the US.

If that's true, then very interesting...

Are we talking about Euros or Dollars?

His post is in dollars, so yes.
I don't know if what he posted is correct or wrong, that's why I said "If that's true".

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I know in Germany the average pays about 40% in income taxes, plus another 19% on VAT.

And yes, they also pay about twice as much per gallon, around $9.

Germans pay 0% tax on income from $0 - $12,094

and only 15% on income from $12,097 - $82,305

Germans do get taxed 42% on income above $82,305 though, but below that the tax rate is much lower than the US.

If that's true, then very interesting...

Are we talking about Euros or Dollars?

His post is in dollars, so yes.
I don't know if what he posted is correct or wrong, that's why I said "If that's true".

I was talking to a German dude who just graduated from university and he did some ME stuff. He was complaining about paying 42% on 50k Euros. The weak dollar just makes it look like a large number, but believe me having 50k euros doesn't mean that their buying power is higher than 82k dollars if you know what I mean.