While Belgium is one of the highest taxation countries around the world, the West European country continues to increase its citizen’s tax burden.
Taxes of 47% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were raised in Belgium in 2017. The figure in 2018 was 47.2%.
Belgium has a high-tax silver medal in the EU. France took the gold medal, collecting taxes amounting to 48.4% of its GDP, in 2018.
Belgian employees are rated as the fifth most expensive workforce in the EU as a result of high labor taxation. But Belgian employees are nine in the EU on the basis of their net income. Of every € 2.01 paid by their employers, they just take home one euro.
In the EU ranking list of high-tax countries, Belgium is also listed as a high-ranking tax burden on married couples with two children in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD reports that an average married employee with two children pays 37.3% of the income to the government in the form of tax, while the OECD average is 26.6%.
The lowest fiscal burden in the EU is in Ireland, Romania and Bulgaria. Ireland taxes 23% of its GDP, the estimates of Romania and Bulgaria are 27.1 and 29.9%.
The interest in Bulgaria to entrepreneurs is especially high, as the Balkan country has flat personal and corporate tax rates of just 10%. This is why entrepreneurs from Belgium and other high-tax EU countries decide to move to Bulgaria.
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