Where does the middle class pay the highest and lowest tax in Europe?

The UK middle classes continue to face economic struggles despite earning up to £60,000 annually (€70,180), according to a recent report.

In many OECD countries, the middle classes have seen their ability to save decline, and in some cases have fallen into debt, as the tax burden on the European middle class becomes increasingly controversial in the present cost of living crisis.

The middle class's income and tax burdens differ significantly across European countries. In general, lower-middle incomes are taxed less, while upper-middle ones are taxed the most. 

The size of households and the number of earners also have an impact on tax rates.

Euronews Business looks at the tax burden of the middle class, based on a dataset from the economics journal EconPol Forum, to find out where in Europe the middle class has the highest purchasing power, and where the middle class pays the highest and lowest taxes.

Before looking at the data, it's important to look at the definition of a few key terms.

According to the OECD definition, the middle class refers to households with an income between 75% and 200% of the median national income. It is divided into three sub-categories:

Household disposable income is what households have available for spending and saving after taxes and transfers. A household's size and the ages of its members are taken into account for weighting households to better compare them.

In 2019, the middle class in Luxembourg had the highest disposable income, standing between €30,618 and €81,649, according to EconPol based on the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey.

On the flip side, Bulgaria had the lowest average household income among European countries. Here, the disposable income of the middle class