Income inequality in Belgium is greater than expected

Our country has long been regarded as an exception in global inequality research. Not only because income inequality is said to be relatively low here, but especially because it appears to be virtually stable. But according to De Tijd, new research has shown that our income inequality has indeed grown. She is also a lot bigger than expected. The cause lies in the increasing inequality in property income, which largely remained under the radar in previous studies.

“So we are less of an exception than we thought,” says André Decoster, economics professor at KU Leuven. His university, together with the University of Antwerp and the ULB, undertook a four-year research project, the results of which will be published next week in book form as The paradox of inequality in Belgium.

According to De Standaard, this research also shows that the Belgian tax system is less redistributive than expected. The very highest incomes are only skimmed to a limited extent. The tax and parafiscal burdens for the 1 percent highest incomes are approximately half as high as those for the group that ‘normally’ earns above average. This is mainly because income from capital is taxed much lower than income from labor.