Is 40% average?

Students should be well aware that the maximum personal UK income tax rate is 40% but how does this compare to the rest of the EU?

The EU have released the 2009 edition of their report on the “Taxation Trends in the European Union”. There are some interesting findings.

The top personal income tax rates in the EU range from a high of 59% in Denmark to a low of 10% in Bulgaria. The 40% top rate of income tax is also present in Greece, Hungary and Poland.

The arithmetic average of the 27 member states is 37.8% so the UK rate is slightly higher than the average for the EU. What is interesting is that the newer member states such as the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia all have relatively low income tax rates (15%, 16% and 19% respectively). When compared with the older EU member states the UK rate is relatively low.

This is all very interesting but the key thing to remember for the exams is that the top rate of income tax in the UK is 40%. In fact, ask anyone that has qualified since 1988 what the highest income tax rate is and they should say 40%. The top rate has been 40% since 1988!