A national tax myth debunked - Ireland is a very low tax country

ONE of the excuses graduates offer for fleeing to faraway places is that we live in a high-tax country.

They insist they could not afford to live here. Like so many of the national myths we so fervently cling to, this one has been, once again, shown for the bunkum it is. This fantasy has been dismissed by the latest OECD report which shows that this Emerald Isle is among the least taxed developed countries.

In a league table of 34, we rank seventh lowest on the taxes levied on single workers. The 27.5% taken from an Irish single worker pales into insignificance when compared to the 55.3% rate in Belgium. Families do well too. A married worker with children, earning something around an average wage, pays the third lowest tax bill of the 34 countries surveyed.