Over 850,000 people among top income earners

Over 850 thousand people of the 13.1 million people in the Netherlands with a taxable income, fall in the highest tax bracket. These people receive an annual income of more than 56,531 euros and have to pay 52 percent tax. This is according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Monday. Taxable income from work and home fall into box 1 of the income tax. Of the 13.1 million people in that box, 7.7 million had jobs last year. The remaining 5.4 million lived off their pension or received benefits because of occupational disability or unemployment. Almost half of the Dutch residents with taxable incomes - 49.4 percent - fell into the first tax bracket for incomes of up to 19,646 euros. 26.5 percent fell into the second tax bracket with incomes between 19,646 and 33,363 euros and 17.5 percent fell into the third tax bracket with income of between 33,364 and 56,531 euros. The remaining 6.6 percent are the top earners of the Netherlands in the fourth and highest tax bracket for box 1. Of the 850 thousand people in the fourth tax bracket for box 1, more than 580 thousand earned an income of more than 65 thousand euros. According to Statistics Netherlands, this group would benefit most from an increase in the starting amount for the highest tax bracket to 65 thousand euros. That would mean that their full income between 56,532 and 65 thousand euros would be taxed at the lower rate of the third bracket - 42 percent instead of 52 percent.