Belgium tops world ranking for highest tax burden on workers

The average Belgian single worker remains the most taxed among all industrialised countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Although this record is explained by the country’s public spending burden, it remains a bitter pill to swallow for many Belgians, reports RTL info.

Belgium is known to have a high tax burden on income, but this top ranking is further confirmation. It is explained by the tax wedge: the difference between the total cost of employing a worker and their actual net salary after taxes and social security contribution.

“The idea is to truly take into account all the levies on the cost of labour,” explains economy professor at UCLouvain, Philippe Ledent.

The findings reveal that Belgians with an average salary are the ones the least well-off. If you are single and without children in 2025, the tax wedge reaches 52.5% compared to 47% in France and 35% on average in other OECD member countries.

Naturally, the high taxation is difficult to accept for many workers in this category. “It’s not right that isolated people are taxed very, very heavily because they actually bear the biggest expense costs like housing and energy,” confided a female employee.

“Even if we tell ourselves we’re going to work all the time, it’s pointless. The more you work, the more taxes you pay,” said one young man. 

This high wedge is mainly due to political choices. “When you look at all the resources mobilised to run the state – all the spending, goods, public services, redistribution – we’re already at the top of this rankings,” analyses Ledent.

“This means that the state will tend to absorb a lot of resources because it also has a lot of spending,” he adds.

In Belgium, taxes and contributions primarily fund social security, public services and the state. However, real income after tax increased in 2025.