Top Personal Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2026

The top statutory personal income tax rate applies to the share of income that falls into the highest tax bracket. For instance, if a country has five tax brackets, and the top income tax rate of 50 percent has a threshold of €1 million, each additional euro of income over €1 million would be taxed at 50 percent.

Governments can generally generate revenue more efficiently by leveraging marginal tax rates at the lower end of the income distribution than by using higher top rates. This is because applying a higher rate to a tax bracket negatively affects the incentive to earn more or less income only for individuals in that bracket, while also raising revenue from all taxpayers in higher brackets. In contrast, high top rates negatively affect the earning incentives of all individuals from whom they raise revenue.