OECD: Slovak taxes down, payroll taxes remain high

ALTHOUGH Slovakia has relatively low income taxes, the state still claims a relatively high share of the wealth generated in the form of payroll taxes to the social insurer Sociálna poisťovňa and health insurance companies, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). A single childless person who earned an average income in Slovakia paid 38 percent of his or her gross wage in income and payroll taxes combined, which is slightly above the OECD average, the Pravda daily wrote. The highest sum of taxes and payroll taxes is found in Belgium, at 55 percent of the average income, while the lowest is in South Korea at 17 percent. OECD statistics also show that the financial situation of a Slovak family with two children living on one income has improved considerably. Such families paid 30.5 percent of their incomes in taxes and payroll taxes in 2000, while in 2005 the figure was down to 23 percent.