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Comment by ThePhysicist | Hacker News Reader

In France you pay 0 % taxes for the first 9.700 € of income, then 14 % for everything up to 26.791 €, then 30 % for everything up to 71.826 €, then 41 % for everything up to 152.108 € and 45 % for everything beyond that [1]. Hence 23 % effective tax rate sounds reasonable for an average income of around 50.000 €. The tax system in many European countries is similar btw, as is the health system.

[1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar%C3%A8mes_de_l'imp%C3%B4t_s...

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That only covers income tax - social security contributions are heavy (but deductible from the income tax).

You don't live in urban centers like Paris with 50k revenue.

That's a ridiculous statement, many people do. I personally wouldn't, sure, it's an expensive city to live in (I have lived there), but €50k is I think a little above the median salary there. You could easily survive on half that if you needed to, I know many people who do. Not everyone lives in the privileged world of tech salaries, think through all the jobs people do in Paris and think if they're all being paid 50k or more..

There are literally millions of people living with less than 50k in Paris...

http://www.journaldunet.com/business/salaire/paris/departeme...

Actually, you do, and rather comfortably. (Sources: me, 22k/year after taxes. Or my parents who raised two children in a big flat in paris, both 35k/year)

50k€ is above the 90th percentile. Maybe even the 95th.

I make 1,300 euros a month (net) and live comfortably in the 14th arrondissement.

Yes, you do. Looks like you don't know what you're talking about.

And btw there is a very good reason for those tiered systems. Imagine people making 26k and paying 14%. They end up with 22,360. If they get a 5k pay rise they make 31k, pay 30% and end up with 21,700. Would they want that raise? No thanks, but a system preventing some pay raises would be insane.

That's not how it works.

You pay nothing on the first 9700€

You pay 14% on the money you make above that, that is 14% of ~17k€

You then pay 30% on the money above that, that is 30% of the extra 5k.

I understood perfectly how it works: it works how you explained.

My example was for a system that doesn't work in that way but switches from 14% to 30% for all the income, and not only for the amount above the threshold.

Maybe I should have worded it better but I take the downvotes I got as a demonstration of my point, that it would be insane.

The interesting thing is that many people believe it's that way, and it can be hard to convince them that it's not.

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