The 10 highest and lowest countries in the world that pay income tax.. Arab countries are strongly present | economy

Taxes are among the means that countries rely on most to finance their public expenditures, including the army, police, public education, infrastructure, and other areas of spending. The rate of reliance on them varies from one country to another in the world, and they are also considered an essential element in making decisions. Investment.

Taxes come in many forms, including sales tax, income tax, property tax, inheritance and estate taxes, consumption tax, and many others, and tax rates and regulations vary greatly from one country to another, according to the World Publication Review platform.

Income tax usually plays a major role in this, and countries vary in the manner and percentage of income tax they collect from individuals and companies. Denmark – for example but not limited to – imposes an income tax of up to 55.9% on the income of its citizens, and on the contrary there are other countries that do not imposes no income tax on its citizens, such as Qatar and the Bahamas.

Most countries apply a progressive income tax system, with people with high incomes paying a higher tax rate compared to their counterparts with low incomes. The idea behind the progressive tax is that people with high incomes can afford to pay more taxes.

Types of income tax

There are types of income tax, according to the Tax Foundation platform, the Globalization Guide platform, and the Investopedia platform, which can be summarized as follows:

Individual income tax

Individual income tax, also known as personal income tax, is levied on wages, salaries, investments, or other forms of income earned by an individual.

Given that many individual income taxes are “progressive,” this means that tax rates increase as taxpayers’ income increases, resulting in higher earners paying a larger share of income taxes than lower earners.

Corporate income tax

Companies also pay income taxes on their profits, so governments impose taxes on companies of all types and sizes, large, medium, and small.

Depending on the structure of the business, the company, its owners or shareholders report their business income and then deduct their operating and capital expenses. Generally, the difference between their business income and their operating and capital expenses is considered their taxable business income.

Payroll taxes

Payroll taxes are paid on employee wages and salaries to fund social insurance programs. In the United States – but not limited to – the largest payroll taxes are 12.4% to fund Social Security and 2.9% to fund Medicare, for a total rate of 15.3%, and half of the payroll taxes are transferred 7.65% is paid directly by employers, while the other half is deducted from employees’ salaries.

Capital gains taxes

Capital assets generally include everything you own and use for personal purposes, pleasure, or investment, including stocks, bonds, homes, cars, jewelry, and art. Whenever the value of one of these assets increases – for example, when the price of a stock you own increases – the result is what is called a “capital gain.” the money”.

Taxes based on nationality

Nationality-based taxes are the most harsh form of all and are used by only two countries in the world: Eritrea and the United States of America.

Citizens of both countries cannot escape the demands of the tax authorities in their countries, as citizens in both countries must declare their income and taxes regardless of where they live in the world.

In this report, Al Jazeera Net focuses on individual income taxes, and provides lists of the 10 highest and lowest Arab and international peoples paying individual income taxes in the world in 2024.

The top 10 people paying individual income tax in the world in 2024

The following is a list of the top 10 people in the world who pay individual income taxes until December 2024, according to the Trading Economics platform:

1. Finland: 57.3%.
2. Japan: 55.95%.
3. Denmark: 55.9%.
4. Austria: 55%.
5. Sweden: 52.3%.
6. Aruba: 52%.
7. Belgium: 50%.
8. Israel: 50%.
9. Slovenia: 50%.
10. Netherlands: 49.5%.

The 10 countries that pay the least personal income tax in the world in 2024 are non-zero countries

Zero countries are countries that do not impose any income tax on their citizens (0%). They are many, numbering 28 countries, including all Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which is why we did not include them in this list, but allocated a special list for them at the end of this report.

The following is a list of the 10 lowest paying countries for individual income tax in the world outside the zero list, according to the previous source.

1. Guatemala: 7%.
2. Montenegro: 9%.
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina: 10%.
4. Serbia: 10%.
5. Bulgaria: 10%.
6. Libya: 10%.
7. Romania: 10%.
8. Kazakhstan: 10%.
9. Macau: 12%.
10. Moldova: 12%.

The top 10 Arab countries paying individual income tax in 2024

The majority of Arab countries impose a progressive tax according to the level of annual individual income, starting from 0% in some countries, and reaching a maximum of 40%.

• In the case of Tunisia – for example – the country imposes a progressive tax of 0% for those whose income is less than 5 thousand Tunisian dinars annually, and rises to 35% for those whose income reaches more than 50 thousand Tunisian dinars annually in 2024, and this percentage has been raised to 40%. In the 2025 budget.
• In Morocco, the tax ranges from 0% for the segment whose income is less than 30 thousand dirhams annually, and reaches a maximum of 38% for the segment whose income exceeds 180 thousand dirhams annually. The Moroccan government recently decided to reduce this percentage to 37%.
• In Jordan, the income tax varies between a natural person and a legal person, reaching a maximum of 20% for natural persons, and a maximum of 35% for legal persons.

We will present to you below a list of the top 10 Arab countries that impose income taxes in 2024, noting that the percentages in the list are the maximum tax according to the Trading Economics platform.

1. Mauritania: 40%.
2. Morocco: 38%.
3. Algeria: 35%.
4. Tunisia: 35%.
5. Egypt: 27.5%.
6. Lebanon: 25%.
7. Syria: 22%.
8. Jordan: 20%.
9. Iraq: 15%.
10. Sudan: 15%.

Zero states

These are the countries whose citizens pay 0% individual income tax, as we mentioned previously, and their number is 28 countries in the world, according to the “Trading Economics” platform and the “World Publication Review” platform.

Which are:

1. Qatar
2. Kuwait
3. Sultanate of Oman
4. Bahrain
5. Saudi Arabia
6. The UAE
7. Iran
8. Ivory Coast
9. Nepal
10. Niger
11. financial
12. Burkina Faso
13. Somalia
14. Boys
15. Burundi
16. Haiti
17. Kyrgyzstan
18. Central Africa
19. Guyana
20. Solomon Islands
21. Bhutan
22. Cape Verde
23. Brunei
24. Bahamas
25. Vanuatu
26. Saint Lucy
27. Micronesia
28. Bahamas