A few points make the difference bigger: - Gross to net includes 13.07% employee side social security contributions. The state somewhat lowers those for the lo

A few points make the difference bigger: - Gross to net includes 13.07% employee side social security contributions. The state somewhat lowers those for the lowest income earners. This increases the gap. - Progressive taxation. Under 24k gross, you pay 40%. Up to 41k, you pay 45%. - A large part of the bottom 25% tax bracket is actually 0% (~9k tax free base). - Local taxation (usually about 7%, but 0% in the richest enclaves) gets tacked onto the tax amount. - Regional taxes are also progressive. [0] https://financeinfo.be/belastingen/belastingschijven/ https://financeinfo.be/belastingen/belastingschijven/