Indexes/Tax

Tax Burden Index

Effective personal tax exposure for a mobile earner — headline income tax, plus how the jurisdiction treats foreign income, capital gains and wealth.

Median: 42
Mean: 52
Top decile from: 90
Highest: 100

What this index measures

Heaviest weight · scored 0–100

01
Top marginal personal income tax rate
02
Treatment of foreign-sourced income and remittances
03
Capital gains, wealth and inheritance exposure

100 means no personal income tax at all. Scores in the 70s usually mean a territorial or remittance regime rather than a true zero.

How the score is weighted

Each input is normalised to 0–100 across all 209 jurisdictions, then combined at the weights below. Weights sum to 100 and are held constant across every jurisdiction in an edition, so scores stay comparable.

Heaviest weight in the composite

Top marginal personal income tax35% of the score
Headline rate at the top band, including mandatory surcharges.
Treatment of foreign income25% of the score
Worldwide, territorial, remittance or special-regime basis.
Capital gains exposure20% of the score
Rate on listed securities and on real property disposals.
Wealth and inheritance12% of the score
Net-wealth taxes, estate and gift duty, including spousal reliefs.
Social contributions and indirect tax8% of the score
Employee social charges and headline VAT/GST.

Who leads it

The ten highest scores on this signal, with their overall standing beside them — the gap between the two columns is the trade-off.

01
Cayman Islands
Americas
100ovr 77
02
British Virgin Islands
Americas
100ovr 74
03
Bermuda
Americas
100ovr 73
04
Monaco
Europe
100ovr 72
05
St Kitts and Nevis
Americas
100ovr 71
06
Antigua and Barbuda
Americas
100ovr 70
07
Grenada
Americas
100ovr 70
08
Bahamas
Americas
100ovr 69
09
St Lucia
Americas
100ovr 69
10
Dominica
Americas
100ovr 68

Distribution · top 60 scoresrange 20–100

How regions compare

Average score per region against its best case. A wide gap means the region is worth searching; a narrow one means the whole region behaves the same way.

Middle East
65 / 100
Americas
60 / 100
Europe
55 / 100
Asia
54 / 100
Oceania
46 / 100
Africa
41 / 45

Full ranking

#	Jurisdiction	Region	Tax	Overall
001	Cayman Islands	Americas	100	77
002	British Virgin Islands	Americas	100	74
003	Bermuda	Americas	100	73
004	Monaco	Europe	100	72
005	St Kitts and Nevis	Americas	100	71
006	Antigua and Barbuda	Americas	100	70
007	Grenada	Americas	100	70
008	Bahamas	Americas	100	69
009	St Lucia	Americas	100	69
010	Dominica	Americas	100	68
011	Vanuatu	Oceania	100	64
012	Brunei	Asia	100	64
013	Vatican City	Europe	100	64
014	Oman	Middle East	100	63
015	Maldives	Asia	100	62
016	Bahrain	Middle East	100	60
017	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	100	59
018	Qatar	Middle East	100	59
019	Kuwait	Middle East	100	56
020	UAE	Middle East	98	59
021	Paraguay	Americas	90	62
022	Andorra	Europe	85	75
023	Montenegro	Europe	85	70
024	Georgia	Europe	85	69
025	Hong Kong	Asia	85	60
026	San Marino	Europe	82	73
027	Bulgaria	Europe	82	66
028	Gibraltar	Europe	80	76
029	Isle of Man	Europe	80	73
030	Singapore	Asia	80	73
031	Jersey	Europe	78	73
032	Guernsey	Europe	78	73
033	Panama	Americas	78	68
034	Kazakhstan	Asia	78	57
035	Russia	Europe	78	48
036	Estonia	Europe	72	75
037	Malaysia	Asia	72	66
038	Macau	Asia	72	62
039	Belarus	Europe	72	50
040	Cyprus	Europe	70	75
041	Costa Rica	Americas	70	66
042	Switzerland	Europe	65	72
043	Liechtenstein	Europe	65	69
044	Latvia	Europe	65	69
045	Serbia	Europe	65	64
046	Thailand	Asia	65	60
047	Ukraine	Europe	65	39
048	Lithuania	Europe	60	68
049	Colombia	Americas	60	61
050	India	Asia	58	54
051	China	Asia	58	46
052	Iceland	Europe	55	70
053	Taiwan	Asia	55	67
054	Romania	Europe	55	63
055	Mexico	Americas	55	61
056	Turkey	Asia	55	60
057	Indonesia	Asia	55	57
058	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	55	57
059	Vietnam	Asia	55	56
060	Malta	Europe	50	72
061	Israel	Middle East	50	62
062	Philippines	Asia	50	52
063	Cuba	Americas	50	50
064	Bangladesh	Asia	50	45
065	North Korea	Asia	50	31
066	New Zealand	Oceania	48	73
067	Croatia	Europe	48	67
068	Albania	Europe	48	62
069	Australia	Oceania	45	70
070	Mauritius	Africa	45	67
071	Canada	Americas	45	66
072	Poland	Europe	45	64
073	Slovakia	Europe	45	64
074	North Macedonia	Europe	45	61
075	Belize	Americas	45	58
076	Argentina	Americas	45	58
077	South Africa	Africa	45	57
078	Moldova	Europe	45	55
079	Jamaica	Americas	45	52
080	Bhutan	Asia	45	52
081	Nepal	Asia	45	49
082	Laos	Asia	45	48
083	Timor-Leste	Asia	45	48
084	Pakistan	Asia	45	43
085	Myanmar	Asia	45	32
086	Palestine	Middle East	45	30
087	Luxembourg	Europe	42	67
088	Czech Republic	Europe	42	67
089	Uruguay	Americas	42	66
090	Barbados	Americas	42	65
091	Chile	Americas	42	65
092	South Korea	Asia	42	65
093	Seychelles	Africa	42	62
094	Cape Verde	Africa	42	61
095	Hungary	Europe	42	61
096	Morocco	Africa	42	59
097	Tunisia	Africa	42	59
098	St Vincent & Grenadines	Americas	42	59
099	Botswana	Africa	42	58
100	Brazil	Americas	42	58
101	Fiji	Oceania	42	58
102	Cook Islands	Oceania	42	58
103	Ghana	Africa	42	57
104	Armenia	Asia	42	57
105	Namibia	Africa	42	56
106	Peru	Americas	42	56
107	Rwanda	Africa	42	55
108	Dominican Republic	Americas	42	55
109	Ecuador	Americas	42	55
110	Samoa	Oceania	42	55
111	Tonga	Oceania	42	55
112	Niue	Oceania	42	55
113	Senegal	Africa	42	54
114	Kosovo	Europe	42	54
115	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	42	53
116	Palau	Oceania	42	53
117	Sri Lanka	Asia	42	53
118	Kenya	Africa	42	52
119	Tanzania	Africa	42	52
120	Guatemala	Americas	42	51
121	Marshall Islands	Oceania	42	51
122	Azerbaijan	Asia	42	51
123	Sao Tome & Principe	Africa	42	50
124	Bolivia	Americas	42	50
125	Guyana	Americas	42	50
126	Suriname	Americas	42	50
127	Tuvalu	Oceania	42	50
128	Micronesia	Oceania	42	50
129	Ivory Coast	Africa	42	49
130	Zambia	Africa	42	49
131	Nicaragua	Americas	42	49
132	Egypt	Africa	42	49
133	Uzbekistan	Asia	42	49
134	Benin	Africa	42	48
135	Gambia	Africa	42	48
136	Malawi	Africa	42	48
137	Madagascar	Africa	42	48
138	Solomon Islands	Oceania	42	48
139	Kiribati	Oceania	42	48
140	Nauru	Oceania	42	48
141	Eswatini	Africa	42	47
142	Uganda	Africa	42	47
143	Gabon	Africa	42	46
144	Sierra Leone	Africa	42	46
145	Togo	Africa	42	46
146	Djibouti	Africa	42	46
147	Mozambique	Africa	42	46
148	Comoros	Africa	42	46
149	Honduras	Americas	42	46
150	Lesotho	Africa	42	44
151	Nigeria	Africa	42	44
152	Liberia	Africa	42	44
153	Cameroon	Africa	42	44
154	Tajikistan	Asia	42	44
155	Zimbabwe	Africa	42	43
156	Angola	Africa	42	43
157	Papua New Guinea	Oceania	42	43
158	Guinea	Africa	42	42
159	Mauritania	Africa	42	42
160	Ethiopia	Africa	42	42
161	Congo	Africa	42	41
162	Turkmenistan	Asia	42	41
163	Burkina Faso	Africa	42	40
164	Guinea-Bissau	Africa	42	40
165	Burundi	Africa	42	40
166	Equatorial Guinea	Africa	42	39
167	Mali	Africa	42	36
168	Niger	Africa	42	36
169	Venezuela	Americas	42	35
170	Chad	Africa	42	34
171	Eritrea	Africa	42	34
172	DR Congo	Africa	42	34
173	Central African Republic	Africa	42	29
174	Somalia	Africa	42	26
175	Portugal	Europe	40	75
176	Ireland	Europe	40	66
177	USA	Americas	40	53
178	Cambodia	Asia	40	51
179	El Salvador	Americas	40	50
180	Kyrgyzstan	Asia	40	49
181	Afghanistan	Asia	40	24
182	Greece	Europe	38	67
183	Spain	Europe	35	72
184	Finland	Europe	35	68
185	Slovenia	Europe	35	68
186	Norway	Europe	35	66
187	United Kingdom	Europe	35	62
188	Jordan	Middle East	35	54
189	Mongolia	Asia	35	50
190	Algeria	Africa	35	47
191	Lebanon	Middle East	35	42
192	Iran	Middle East	35	38
193	Iraq	Middle East	35	34
194	Haiti	Americas	35	32
195	Western Sahara	Africa	35	31
196	Libya	Africa	35	28
197	Syria	Middle East	35	27
198	Sudan	Africa	35	26
199	South Sudan	Africa	35	26
200	Yemen	Middle East	35	26
201	Germany	Europe	30	68
202	Austria	Europe	30	67
203	Sweden	Europe	30	66
204	Italy	Europe	30	66
205	Netherlands	Europe	28	67
206	France	Europe	25	65
207	Denmark	Europe	25	65
208	Belgium	Europe	25	64
209	Japan	Asia	20	65

At the other end

The five lowest scores on this signal: Japan (20), Belgium (25), Denmark (25), France (25), Netherlands (28). A weak score here is not disqualifying on its own — read it against the composite.

Where this comes from

Each input is normalised to a 0–100 scale and weighted into the score above. We cite the underlying publication rather than the aggregator wherever one exists.

Edition 2026.1 · reviewed quarterly

01Worldwide Personal Tax and Immigration Guide
EY
Headline personal rates, residence tests and treatment of foreign income.
02Worldwide Tax Summaries
PwC
Capital gains, wealth and inheritance exposure by jurisdiction.
03Tax Database — personal income tax rates
OECD
Comparable effective rate benchmarks for OECD members.