The FiScore
A mark out of 10 summing up a country tax burden. 10 is the lightest taxation, 0 the heaviest.
How it is computed
Three taxes count, each brought onto a fixed scale: corporate income tax (weight 40%, ceiling 50%), personal income tax (40%, ceiling 60%) and VAT (20%, ceiling 30%).
| Tax | Weight | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate income tax | 40% | 50% |
| Personal income tax | 40% | 60% |
| VAT | 20% | 30% |
A country with none of these scores 10. A country hitting all three ceilings would score 0. In between, the burden reads proportionally.
A fixed scale, not a moving average
The ceilings are set once and for all, a little above the highest rates ever recorded. That is deliberate: correcting one country moves no other country's score, a score stays comparable from one year to the next, and you can recompute it yourself from the three figures shown on every page.
What the score does not say
It only knows headline rates, and the mechanisms that change the real burden escape it. Malte posts 35% corporate tax, which earns it a score of 3.7; after refund to the shareholder, the effective charge actually drops to 5%. It also ignores social contributions, for want of comparable data across 217 countries. So an average score does not mean a country holds no surprises: it means you should read its page.