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This article was first published 12 years ago

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Last updated on: December 1, 2011 10:33 IST

Image: Social programmes require governments to raise revenue.
Photographs: sowellians.wordpress.com

In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, US Supreme Court of Justice in 1904, "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society."

Governments need sustainable funding for social programmes and public investments to promote economic growth and development.

Programmes providing health, education, infrastructure and other amenities are important to achieve a common goal of a prosperous, functional and orderly society.

Those programmes require governments to raise revenue.

Let us take a look at 20 countries with lowest tax rates, based on PricewaterhouseCoopers study.

NOTE: The total tax rate measures the burden of all the taxes that a company must pay in relation to its commercial profit. Thus all kinds of taxes that impose a cost on the firm are considered.

The overall ranking is a simple average of the percentile rankings of each of the sub-indicators.

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Dili, Timor-Leste.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Timor-Leste

Total tax rate: 0.2 per cent

Profit tax: 0.0 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 0.2 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 1

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Vanuatu

Total tax rate: 8.4 per cent

Profit tax: 0.0 per cent

Labour tax: 4.5 per cent

Other taxes: 3.9 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 2

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Male, Maldives.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Maldives

Total tax rate: 9.3 per cent

Profit tax: 0.0 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 9.3 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 3

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Skopje, Macedonia.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Macedonia

Total tax rate: 9.7 per cent

Profit tax: 6.3 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 3.4 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 4

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Windhoek, Namibia.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Namibia

Total tax rate: 9.8 per cent

Profit tax: 4.0 per cent

Labour tax: 1.0 per cent

Other taxes: 4.8 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 5

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Doha, Qatar.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Qatar

Total tax rate: 11.3 per cent

Profit tax: 0.0 per cent

Labour tax: 11.3 per cent

Other taxes: 0.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 6

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Dubai, UAE.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

The UAE

Total tax rate: 14.1 per cent

Profit tax: 0.0 per cent

Labour tax: 14.1 per cent

Other taxes: 0.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 7

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Lusaka, Zambia.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Zambia

Total tax rate: 14.5 per cent

Profit tax: 1.5 per cent

Labour tax: 10.4 per cent

Other taxes: 2.6 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 8

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Saudi Arabia

Total tax rate: 14.5 per cent

Profit tax: 2.1 per cent

Labour tax: 12.4 per cent

Other taxes: 0.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 9

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Manama, Bahrain.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Bahrain

Total tax rate: 15.0 per cent

Profit tax: 0.0 per cent

Labour tax: 14.6 per cent

Other taxes: 0.4 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 10

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Pristina, Kosovo.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Kosovo

Total tax rate: 15.4 per cent

Profit tax: 9.2 per cent

Labour tax: 5.6 per cent

Other taxes: 0.6 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 11

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Kuwait

Total tax rate: 15.5 per cent

Profit tax: 4.8 per cent

Labour tax: 10.7 per cent

Other taxes: 0.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 12

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Maseru, Lesotho.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Lesotho

Total tax rate: 16.0 per cent

Profit tax: 13.0 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 3.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 13

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Tbilisi, Georgia.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Georgia

Total tax rate: 16.5 per cent

Profit tax: 14.3 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 2.2 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 14

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Gaza City.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

West Bank and Gaza

Total tax rate: 16.8 per cent

Profit tax: 16.2 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 0.6 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 15

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Brunei Darussalam

Total tax rate: 16.8 per cent

Profit tax: 8.3 per cent

Labour tax: 8.5 per cent

Other taxes: 0.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 16

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Apia, Samoa.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Samoa

Total tax rate: 18.9 per cent

Profit tax: 11.9 per cent

Labour tax: 7.0 per cent

Other taxes: 0.0 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 17

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Gaborone, Botswana.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Botswana

Total tax rate: 19.4 per cent

Profit tax: 15.9 per cent

Labour tax: 0.0 per cent

Other taxes: 3.5 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 18

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Luxembourg

Total tax rate: 20.8 per cent

Profit tax: 4.1 per cent

Labour tax: 15.1 per cent

Other taxes: 1.6 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 19

...

20 countries with lowest tax rates!

Image: Muscat, Oman.
Photographs: Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons

Oman

Total tax rate: 22.0 per cent

Profit tax: 10.1 per cent

Labour tax: 11.8 per cent

Other taxes: 0.1 per cent

Total tax rate rank: 20