In some places around the world, even rich residents don’t pay income taxes.
An analysis of personal top income tax rates released Thursday by Howmuch.net revealed that residents of some countries — many of which are in the Middle East — don’t pay any income taxes at all. The analysis cross-referenced the country’s top personal income tax rates with gross domestic product per capita to highlight countries with both low taxes and a healthy economy.
Some important caveats: There are other taxes that are unavoidable and you may have to be a resident and/or citizen to skip paying income tax.
10 countries with a 0% personal income tax rate
|GDP per capita|
|The Cayman Islands||$54,827|
|United Arab Emirates||$25,773|
While Bermuda has “the most extreme combination of tax rate and GDP per capita in the world,” it’s got other downsides like a high cost of living, a 14.5% payroll tax for some employers and high customs duties that are typically 25%. The Cayman Islands also have a high GDP per capita and no personal income tax, though companies do have to provide pensions for employees, the report reveals.
Many of the countries on the list of tax havens are in the Middle East. While the governments in these countries may not tax income, “these countries often have significant oil resources which are taxed by the government,” the report reveals. In Qatar, for example, oil and gas businesses get taxed at a 35% rate.