Danish income tax no longer one of the highest in the OECD

Tax reforms over the past decade have had a considerable effect

Denmark has a reputation for having some of the highest income tax rates in the world, but compared to other OECD nations, that is not actually the case anymore.

OECD figures (here in English) revealed that Denmark ranks 8th among 21 OECD nations when it comes to marginal tax for high wages, 19th for average wages and 18th for low wages.

“Taxes are relatively low in Denmark when measuring income tax,” labour market organisation Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd (AE) said in its report regarding Danish income tax (here in Danish).

“Many tax reforms have been undertaken over the past decade that have lowered the tax on working. That has led to the number of people in the top tax bracket decreasing. In 2008, over 1 million people paid top taxes, but that has dropped to about 580,000 today.”

READ MORE: New Study: Industry in Denmark competitive despite high wages

Down further by 2022
That figure is expected to further fall to about 460,000 people by 2022 as the current tax reform takes hold.

Belgium, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Spain, Norway, Sweden, the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Poland and the US were the other 20 OECD nations involved in the report.

Earlier this month, the government indicated it would significantly raise the top tax bracket to 750,000 kroner and above.

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