KPMG: Romania has some of the highest taxes on low wages in EU

Romania has some of the highest tax rates on the minimum wage in Europe, according to a study by the audit and consulting firm KPMG Romania. The effective tax rate for the minimum wage in Romania is close to 50%. The effective tax rate was calculated as the difference between the employer’s total cost and the net wage paid to the employer, which is then divided by the gross wage. Romania ranks eighth among the EU countries with the highest effective tax rate on the minimum wage, after France (where the taxes applied to the minimum wage amount to 87.6% of the employer’s total), Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and Estonia. In these countries, the toll varies between 50% and 80% of the minimum wage. At the same time, Romania is one of the countries with the lowest minimum wage in Europe, although the Government increased the minimum wage from RON 1,250 (EUR 278) to RON 1,450 (EUR 322) in gross value at the beginning of February. Only Bulgaria has a lower minimum wage than Romania in the EU, amounting to EUR 235 per month. In Luxembourg, the gross minimum wage amounts to around EUR 2,000 per month. editor@romania-insider.com