Tax wedge on labour
Tier B· ReputableDescriptiveIncome tax plus employee and employer social contributions minus benefits, as a share of total labour cost, for a single worker at the average wage. Descriptive fiscal-structure measure. OECD-only.
100 = highest tax wedge in the dataset, 0 = lowest — descriptive, not better or worse. ⚠️ OECD members only (~38 countries): read it as a within-OECD comparison, not a world ranking.
How this score is built
The tax wedge — income tax + employee & employer social security contributions, minus cash benefits, as a share of total labour cost — for a single person at 100% of the average wage with no children (OECD *Taxing Wages*, via the OECD SDMX API, CC BY 4.0). Descriptive: a higher wedge funds more public services and a lower one leaves more take-home pay — neither is simply better, so it uses a neutral colour and is off the Compare radar.
⚠️ OECD members only (~38 countries). This is a *within-OECD* comparison, not a world ranking — most of the map is "no data". Normalized with min–max across the covered set; the raw percentage is shown. Most recent year per country.
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100 = highest tax wedge in the dataset, 0 = lowest — descriptive, not better or worse. ⚠️ OECD members only (~38 countries): read it as a within-OECD comparison, not a world ranking.
The map is mostly grey because only 38 countries have data — this is expected, not a rendering error.
Ranking
38 countries with data. Rank 1 = best. Click a column to sort; click a country for its full provenance.
| Rank ↑ | Country | Score | Raw value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | BelgiumBEL | 100100 | 52.4822 % of labour cost |
| 2nd | GermanyDEU | 93.8794 | 49.2631 % of labour cost |
| 3rd | FranceFRA | 89.8990 | 47.1781 % of labour cost |
| 4th | AustriaAUT | 89.7290 | 47.0884 % of labour cost |
| 5th | ItalyITA | 87.1987 | 45.7574 % of labour cost |
| 6th | SloveniaSVN | 86.3186 | 45.2952 % of labour cost |
| 7th | SlovakiaSVK | 81.481 | 42.7183 % of labour cost |
| 8th | EstoniaEST | 81.2481 | 42.6368 % of labour cost |
| 9th | FinlandFIN | 80.9481 | 42.4799 % of labour cost |
| 10th | SpainESP | 78.9779 | 41.4441 % of labour cost |
| 11th | CzechiaCZE | 78.579 | 41.2002 % of labour cost |
| 12th | HungaryHUN | 78.4178 | 41.1504 % of labour cost |
| 13th | SwedenSWE | 78.3878 | 41.1358 % of labour cost |
| 14th | TürkiyeTUR | 76.8577 | 40.3343 % of labour cost |
| 15th | LuxembourgLUX | 76.5277 | 40.1604 % of labour cost |
| 16th | LatviaLVA | 76.4876 | 40.1368 % of labour cost |
| 17th | LithuaniaLTU | 75.8276 | 39.7942 % of labour cost |
| 18th | GreeceGRC | 74.9575 | 39.337 % of labour cost |
| 18th | PortugalPRT | 74.9575 | 39.3374 % of labour cost |
| 20th | NorwayNOR | 69.3469 | 36.3915 % of labour cost |
| 21st | NetherlandsNLD | 68.4868 | 35.9393 % of labour cost |
| 22nd | DenmarkDNK | 68.1368 | 35.757 % of labour cost |
| 23rd | PolandPOL | 66.7467 | 35.0261 % of labour cost |
| 24th | JapanJPN | 63.1163 | 33.12 % of labour cost |
| 25th | IrelandIRL | 62.1862 | 32.6328 % of labour cost |
| 26th | United KingdomGBR | 61.6962 | 32.3789 % of labour cost |
| 27th | CanadaCAN | 61.2161 | 32.1229 % of labour cost |
| 28th | IcelandISL | 60.0560 | 31.5141 % of labour cost |
| 29th | United StatesUSA | 57.1257 | 29.9771 % of labour cost |
| 30th | AustraliaAUS | 53.1753 | 27.9043 % of labour cost |
| 31st | Costa RicaCRI | 52.753 | 27.6586 % of labour cost |
| 32nd | IsraelISR | 49.6750 | 26.0683 % of labour cost |
| 33rd | South KoreaKOR | 47.3547 | 24.8496 % of labour cost |
| 34th | SwitzerlandCHE | 43.7944 | 22.9794 % of labour cost |
| 35th | MexicoMEX | 41.2541 | 21.6511 % of labour cost |
| 36th | New ZealandNZL | 39.6640 | 20.8149 % of labour cost |
| 37th | ChileCHL | 14.2114 | 7.45852 % of labour cost |
| 38th | ColombiaCOL | 00 | 0 % of labour cost |