Second earner tax rate comparison: the same second salary loses 47.6% to tax in Berlin and 35.9% in Brussels
By Skyler Bissell · September 28, 2026 · 10 min read
A second salary of €51,750 adds €24,612 to a Berlin couple's tax bill, which is 47.6% of what she earns. The identical salary on the identical household adds €18,601 in Brussels, 35.9%. The two countries have similar top rates and similar contribution rates. What differs is that Germany files the couple as one taxpayer and Belgium files each spouse on their own earned income, and that one rule is worth about twelve points of her salary. Across the nine cities I ran, the rate runs from 18.3% in Zurich to Berlin's 47.6%.
The second earner tax rate is the income tax and mandatory employee contributions a second salary adds to a household's bill, as a share of that salary. It is measured against the same household with the partner at home, so it captures two things at once: the contributions charged on her own pay, which every country levies per person, and where on the income tax ladder her first unit of income lands, which depends on whether the country taxes the couple jointly or each person alone. The OECD calls a version of this the participation tax rate. This page prices it with no children in the household, so childcare plays no part in the figure.
The family version of this question, with a nursery bill on top of the tax, is on the second income trap, and the money behind it is on its pair page. Those figures carry two children, child benefit and a retirement deferral, which is why they differ from the ones here by a few points in each city. This page strips the household back to two adults so the tax rule stands on its own, and its pair, countries that tax couples jointly, turns the same rule round and asks what it does for a couple with one salary.
TL;DR
- The four cities that file the couple jointly are spread across the whole table, from the lowest rate (Zurich) to the highest (Berlin), so the filing rule sets where her salary starts on the ladder and the ladder does the rest. The nine cities, ranked.
- Paris files jointly and takes 42.6% of her salary; Amsterdam files each person alone and takes 22.7%, on the same EUR 138,000 household. What joint filing does to her first euro.
- Brussels and Copenhagen file each person alone and still take about a third, because their ladders are steep from the first bands. Individual filing sets the start line.
Nine cities, ranked by the tax on the second salary
One household throughout: two adults, no children, splitting USD 150,000 at a 100/60 ratio, so the second earner is on USD 56,250, renting two bedrooms, nothing deferred into a pension. Abroad the household is restated in local currency at a fixed ratio, EUR 138,000 in the euro cities, GBP 118,501 in London, SEK 1,575,000 in Stockholm, DKK 967,500 in Copenhagen and CHF 120,000 in Zurich, with the second earner on the 60 side of the split everywhere. The rate is the tax and contributions her salary adds to the household's bill, over her gross, against the same couple with her at home and still filing as a couple wherever the country files couples together.
| City, who files | Her salary | Tax it adds to the household bill | Rate on her salary | Reaches the household |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich, joint (Verheiratetentarif) | CHF 45,000 | CHF 8,246 | 18.3% | CHF 36,754 ($45,375) |
| London, individual | £44,438 | £8,923 | 20.1% | £35,515 ($48,123) |
| Stockholm, individual | SEK 590,625 | SEK 122,720 | 20.8% | SEK 467,905 ($49,253) |
| Austin, joint (married filing jointly) | $56,250 | $12,753 | 22.7% | $43,497 |
| Amsterdam, individual | €51,750 | €11,743 | 22.7% | €40,007 ($46,358) |
| Copenhagen, individual | DKK 362,812 | DKK 116,489 | 32.1% | DKK 246,323 ($38,190) |
| Brussels, individual (decumul) | €51,750 | €18,601 | 35.9% | €33,149 ($38,411) |
| Paris, joint (quotient familial) | €51,750 | €22,030 | 42.6% | €29,720 ($34,438) |
| Berlin, joint (Ehegattensplitting) | €51,750 | €24,612 | 47.6% | €27,138 ($31,446) |
Engine figures, 2026 rules, at the exchange rates in the current build for the dollar conversions only; every local salary is fixed. The rate is a share of her own gross salary; the household's gross is larger. Tax means income tax plus mandatory employee contributions (pension, health where it is a payroll line, unemployment, and the Swiss occupational pension). Brussels and Copenhagen are floors: Belgium's quotient conjugal and Denmark's transfer of an unused personal allowance to a spouse both lower the at-home couple's bill and are not modelled, so the true rate in each is a few points higher than printed. Dublin is left out because our Irish data carries the two-income married band only, which is right for this couple and wrong for the at-home comparison.
The "who files" column does not sort the list.
Read the table twice. The first time, look at the "who files" column and notice it does not sort the list: two joint cities sit at the top, two at the bottom, and the five individual cities fill the middle in no particular order. The second time, look at the two euro cities that share a household income and a ladder shape, Berlin and Brussels, and at the two that share a household income and a filing rule, Berlin and Paris. Those pairs are where the rule shows.
Joint filing: her first euro lands at his marginal rate
A country that files the couple as one taxpayer adds her salary to his and runs the sum through one ladder. Germany does it by the splitting method in section 32a Abs. 5 EStG: the couple's taxable income is halved, the tariff is applied to the half, and the result is doubled. On EUR 138,000 the half is EUR 69,000, which sits at the top of the 2026 tariff's second zone, so the couple's marginal rate is about 42% whether the euro belongs to him or to her. Her EUR 51,750 does not start at the EUR 12,348 basic allowance the way a single person's would; the household already used that allowance, twice, on his salary. Her first euro pays 42%, and then pension, health, long-term care and unemployment insurance are charged on her gross on top. That is how €24,612 of a EUR 51,750 salary comes to be tax.
France does the same arithmetic with two "parts": the household's income is divided by two, taxed, and multiplied back, per service-public.fr on the quotient familial. The French ladder is gentler than the German one at this income and the contributions are heavier, and the Paris rate lands at 42.6%. The United States files the couple on one return with brackets that, per IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, are exactly double the single brackets through the 35% band. Her USD 56,250 lands in the household's 22% bracket rather than starting at 10%, then Social Security and Medicare are charged on her own wages, and Austin, with no state income tax, comes to 22.7%. Zurich files the couple jointly under the cantonal married tariff and the federal one, and still comes in lowest, at 18.3%, because Swiss income tax on CHF 120,000 is low to begin with and Zurich grants a deduction for the second income. Joint filing puts her on a higher rung; it does not build the ladder.
Individual filing sets the start line
A country that files each person alone gives her what a single person gets: her own allowance, her own low bands, her own contribution ceiling, regardless of what her partner earns. Britain has taxed spouses independently since 1990, so her GBP 44,438 gets the full personal allowance and is taxed at the basic rate almost to the top, and London's rate is 20.1%. Sweden abolished joint taxation in 1971; her SEK 590,625 pays municipal tax and a little state tax on its own, at 20.8%. The Netherlands assesses employment income per person in Box 1, and since the Belastingdienst stopped paying the general tax credit out to a non-earning partner born after 1962, there is nothing for her going to work to take away either; Amsterdam sits at 22.7%.
Two individual-filing cities take a third of her salary anyway.
Belgium and Denmark. Belgium taxes spouses separately on their own earned income (the decumul), and her EUR 51,750 still pays 35.9%, because the Belgian ladder reaches 45% under EUR 30,000 and 50% under EUR 50,000, and the 13.07% employee social contribution is uncapped. Denmark taxes each spouse alone, and her DKK 362,812 still loses 32.1%, because the 8% labour market contribution and the bottom and municipal taxes start on the first krone over a modest allowance. Filing decides where on the ladder she starts. The ladder decides how steep the climb is from there, and a steep ladder from a low start can cost as much as a gentle ladder from a high one.
Berlin against Brussels: the same EUR 138,000 two ways
The pair in the title is the cleanest test the data allows. Both households earn EUR 138,000, both split it EUR 86,250 and EUR 51,750, both pay uncapped or near-uncapped social contributions at similar rates, and both countries have a top income tax rate in the forties. In Berlin the household with her at home is taxed on his salary through the splitting tariff, which values his EUR 86,250 as two incomes of EUR 43,125 and taxes each gently. When she works, the household's income climbs to EUR 138,000 and her salary is taxed at the couple's marginal rate all the way through: €24,612 more tax, €27,138 reaching the household.
In Brussels the household with her at home is taxed on his EUR 86,250 alone, as one person, with one allowance and one ladder. When she works, her EUR 51,750 is taxed as a second person, with a second allowance and a second ladder: €18,601 more tax, €33,149 reaching the household. The gap between the two "reaches the household" figures, on the same salary, is the filing rule. And the Brussels figure is a floor, because a real Belgian return would also give the at-home couple the quotient conjugal, up to EUR 13,800 of his income taxed as if it were hers, which the engine does not model and which Belgium begins phasing out from the 2027 assessment year. The household rate with both working is 41.5% in Brussels against 38.2% in Berlin, which is the other lesson of the pair: Belgium taxes the couple harder in total and the second earner more gently.
Contributions are per person everywhere
One line the rate contains in every city and the filing rule never touches. Pension, health, unemployment and the rest are charged on each earner's own wages, up to each earner's own ceiling, in joint and individual countries alike. In Germany that is close to a fifth of her gross before any income tax is counted; in the Netherlands the national insurance contributions are folded into the first Box 1 band; in the United States it is Social Security and Medicare at 7.65%; in Britain National Insurance at 8% over the primary threshold. So part of the Berlin rate would be there whatever the filing rule, and the joint-filing share is the rest. Where the contribution ceiling sits matters in the other direction too, because a one-earner couple whose single salary clears the ceiling pays less in contributions than two salaries under it, which is one of the two reasons the same EUR 138,000 keeps more in Berlin as one salary than as two on the pair page.
What the same rule does for a couple with one salary
Everything above is the rule read from the second earner's side. Read from the other side it is a gift. Splitting values one salary as two smaller ones and taxes each gently, so a Berlin couple with one income pays less than a single person on the same money. Independent taxation offers a one-earner couple nothing: a London household on GBP 118,500 from one salary is taxed as one single person on GBP 118,500, allowance tapered away and all. Which household you are decides which rule you want, and countries that tax couples jointly prices both households in eight cities. The place these figures sit in the family budget, beside childcare, healthcare and the benefits that offset them, is the cost of raising kids by country; the household's whole effective rate, both earners in, is what take-home pay by country ranks.
Where the engine stops
- Dublin. Ireland assesses married couples jointly and, per Revenue's 2026 rates and bands, gives a one-income couple EUR 53,000 at 20% and a two-income couple up to EUR 35,000 more, capped at the lower earner's income. Our Irish data carries the two-income band only, so the at-home comparison would be wrong by up to EUR 7,000 of band, and Dublin is off the table until that is fixed.
- Madrid. Spain files individually by default and lets the couple opt into a joint return with a EUR 3,400 reduction in the base, per the Agencia Tributaria. The option only pays when one spouse earns little, so it does not change this couple's figure; the engine files them individually.
- Vienna and Warsaw. Both carry open items in our tax-accuracy worklist (Austria's 13th and 14th salary treatment, Poland's optional joint return), and neither is printed.
- The withholding class. German couples choose tax classes III/V or IV/IV, and the second earner in class V sees a payslip that looks worse than the figures here. That is timing: the annual assessment under the splitting tariff produces the same bill either way, and the rate on this page is the annual bill.
FAQ
Is the second earner tax rate the same as her marginal tax rate?
No. Her marginal rate is what the next euro of her salary pays; the rate on this page is what the whole of her salary pays, averaged, when it is added to a household that already has one income. In a joint-filing country the two are close, because her first euro already sits at the household's marginal rate and every euro after it pays about the same. In an individual-filing country they are far apart: her first euros pay nothing or the lowest band, and only the top of her salary reaches her marginal rate, so the average is well under it.
Does a joint return always cost a two-earner couple more?
Not in the United States at this income. The 2026 married-filing-jointly bracket edges are exactly double the single edges through the 35% band and the standard deduction is doubled, so two people earning USD 75,000 each pay the same federal tax married as they would single. The joint return costs the second earner when the two salaries are unequal, because her lower salary is taxed at the rate his higher one reached. Germany's splitting works the same way with a steeper ladder, which is why Berlin sits at the top of the table.
Can a couple in Germany choose to be taxed separately?
Yes. Spouses may elect individual assessment (Einzelveranlagung, section 26a EStG) instead of joint assessment, but with a progressive tariff the joint assessment under section 32a Abs. 5 is never worse for the couple as a whole, so almost nobody elects out. What people change is the withholding class during the year (III/V or IV/IV with the factor), which moves cash between the two payslips and leaves the annual bill unchanged. The rate on this page is the annual bill.
Why is the rate for Brussels a floor?
Because Belgium taxes spouses separately on their own earned income and then, when one spouse earns little or nothing, attributes up to 30% of the other's earned income to them, capped at EUR 13,800 for 2026 income, so that it is taxed at the bottom of a second ladder. Our engine models the separate taxation and does not model that attribution, so the couple with the partner at home pays a little more tax in our figures than in a real return, and the amount her salary adds is a little less. The true Brussels rate is therefore somewhat higher than the one printed. Belgium is phasing the attribution out from the 2027 assessment year.
To see the rule on your own two salaries, open the Austin to Berlin comparison for a family or the New York to London comparison for a family, set the partner's salary, and switch "partner earning here" off and on: the change in the tax line is this page's figure for your household.
Sources. Germany, the splitting method and the 2026 tariff zones: Bundesministerium der Justiz, section 32a EStG. France, two parts for a married couple and the quotient calculation: service-public.fr, quotient familial d'un couple marié. United States, the 2026 rate tables for joint and single filers: IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Belgium, the 30% attribution, its EUR 13,800 ceiling for 2026 income and the phase-out from the 2027 assessment year: Securex, quotient conjugal (the SPF Finances page was behind a verification wall on the day of writing). Netherlands, no payout of the general tax credit to a partner born after 1962: Belastingdienst, heffingskortingen laten uitbetalen. Ireland, the 2026 one-income and two-income bands: Revenue, tax rates, bands and reliefs. Denmark, transfer of an unused personal allowance between spouses: Skattestyrelsen, Den juridiske vejledning C.F.1.6.5. All pages retrieved 28 September 2026. Every rate and amount in the table is computed by cityparity's engine; per-field provenance is in data/_meta.json, per the methodology.
Figures here come from cityparity's per-city engine and were current at publication; tax rates, contribution ceilings and exchange rates move, so treat any single number as a strong estimate and run your own inputs. Where our comparison pages quote an equivalent salary, it is the bar an offer has to clear in the destination city and it is not a job offer. See the methodology.