Families in Greece pay more taxes and social security contributions than any of the 34 OECD member-countries. According to a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), single people in Greece pay less taxes than families. The study showed that if you are Greek and have a family with two children, 43.4% of your gross income goes to taxes and social security contributions, much more than the OECD average that stands at 26.9%. Even if a Greek family gets all the state allowances available, social security and taxes are still 3% more than a single individual has to pay. In the rest of the OECD countries, families get more tax benefits than singles, with their tax burden being 9.1% less than that of a single individual. Following Greece in high taxation for families with two children are Belgium (40.6%) and France (40.5%), while the lowest percentages are in New Zealand (3.8%), Chile (7%), Switzerland (9.8%) and Ireland (9.9%). In 2014, Greek singles paid 40.4% of their income in taxes and social security contributions, while the average in OECD countries is 36%. The tax burden for employed people went up 3.1% between 2010 and 2011 but then dropped at 2.8%. However, Greek singles fare much better than the Belgians who see 55.6% of their gross income going to taxes and social security contributions. In Austria it’s 49.4%, in Germany 49.3% and in Hungary 49%. On the other end, single workers in Chile pay just 7% of their income in taxes and social security contributions, 17.2% in New Zealand and 19.5% in Mexico.
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