Dividend Tax Rates in Europe 2023: Chart

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The tax rates on dividends paid out to shareholders by companies are generally higher in Europe than in the US. However European firms tend to have higher dividend yields than their American peers due to the dividend culture. With that said, the following chart from Tax Foundation shows the dividend tax rates in European OECD countries at the shareholder level:

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Source: Dividend Tax Rates in Europe by Cristina Enache, Tax Foundation

Ireland has the highest dividend taxes at 51% followed by Denmark and the United Kingdom. Estonia and Latvia do not have dividend taxes but they charge companies a corporate tax of 20% on profits distributed to shareholders.

Greece has the lowest tax rate at 5% followed by Slovakia and Portugal.

Overall most of developed Europe have high double-digit dividend tax rates.

US investors may also want to check out Dividend Withholding Tax Rates by Country for 2023.

India’s Sensex Hits A New Record High This Year

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The equity market in India reached a new peak last week with the benchmark Sensex reaching a record high of 64,768 on yesterday Friday, June 30th. It ended the day at 64,718. The index has been a tremendous run since the troughs of the Covid-19 panic in early 2020. Since then it has crossed it previous highs and continues to go higher. It remains to be seen where it ends at the end of this year.

Sensex Year-to-Date Return:

Sensex 5-Year Return:

Sensex Long-term Return:

Source: Google Finance

The index reached 50,000 in May 2021 and in Q2 this year it shot up 9.71%. Soaring stock prices have led valuations extremely high. The following chart from a recent article at Reuters shows the valuations of Sensex and its cousin Nifty relative to a few Asian peers:

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Source: Indian shares hit record highs; Nifty closes a notch below 19,000, Reuters

As an emerging market caution is warranted for any new investments.

Related ETFs and ETNs:

  • WisdomTree India Earnings (EPI)
  • The iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA)
  • PowerShares India (PIN)

Disclosure: No positions

The Current US National Debt: Infographic

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The US national debt (or) gross federal debt of the US has exceeded $32.0 Trillion according to an article at Peter G.Peterson Foundation. For a normal person this figure seems so huge and is difficult to comprehend with so many zeros. The below infographic puts this mountain of a debt into perspective:

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Source: THE NATIONAL DEBT IS NOW MORE THAN $32 TRILLION. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?, Peter G.Peterson Foundation