Top Personal Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2025
Denmark (55.9 percent), France (55.4 percent), and Austria (55 percent) levy the highest top personal income tax rates in Europe.
4 min readProviding journalists, taxpayers, and policymakers with the latest data on taxes and spending is a cornerstone of the Tax Foundation’s educational mission.
As a nonpartisan, educational organization, the Tax Foundation has earned a reputation for independence and credibility. Our global tax policy team regularly provides accessible, data-driven insights, including a survey of corporate tax rates around the world, from sources such as the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the European Commission, and others.
    
  Denmark (55.9 percent), France (55.4 percent), and Austria (55 percent) levy the highest top personal income tax rates in Europe.
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  More than 175 countries worldwide—including all major European countries—levy a value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services. EU Member States’ VAT rates vary across countries, though they’re somewhat harmonized by the EU.
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  Some European countries have raised their statutory corporate rates over the past year, including Czechia, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, and Slovenia.
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  The worldwide average statutory corporate tax rate has consistently decreased since 1980 but has leveled off in recent years. In the US, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act brought the country’s statutory corporate income tax rate from the fourth highest in the world closer to the middle of the distribution.
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  Developed countries raise tax revenue through individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, social insurance taxes, taxes on goods and services, and property taxes—the combination of which determines how distortionary or neutral a tax system is.
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  To recover from the pandemic and put the global economy on a trajectory for growth, policymakers need to aim for more generous and permanent capital allowances. This will spur real investment and can also contribute to more environmentally friendly production across the globe.
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  22 of the 27 EU Member States have implemented both the income inclusion rule and the qualified domestic minimum top-up tax in 2025.
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  High property taxes levied not only on land but also on buildings and structures can discourage investment in infrastructure, which businesses would have to pay additional tax on.
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  With much of the continent celebrating Oktoberfest, it is a great time to examine beer taxes across Europe. Hefty beer taxes increase the price consumers pay for their libations.
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  As energy prices have declined, European countries have switched the focus of their windfall profits taxes—a one-time tax levied on a company or industry when economic conditions result in large, unexpected profits—from energy providers to the banking and financial sector.
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  Cigarette smokers in the European Union pay far more in excise taxes than they do for the cigarettes themselves. Our latest map illustrates the wide variance in cigarette excise taxes across EU Member States.
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  Fuel taxes continue to be a central policy consideration for European countries amid geopolitical conflicts, increased emphasis on environmental policy, and economic conditions experienced by average consumers.
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