Taxes paid by corporations can be measured in a number of ways, including the marginal corporate tax rate and the total taxes paid as a percentage of profits (World Bank total tax as % of profit).
The highest marginal corporate tax rate is simply the highest tax rate shown on a country’s schedule of corporate taxes. The World Bank defines it more specifically as the highest rate shown on the schedule of tax rates applied to the taxable income of corporations.
The highest marginal tax rates in 2009 were found in the United Arab Emirates—at 55%; Uganda—at 45%; Japan—with a 41% tax rate; Libya—at 40%; and the United States, which also had a 40% highest marginal tax rate for corporations. The lowest corporate tax rates were seen, unsurprisingly, in those countries known as offshore corporate tax havens—including the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, The Bahamas, and the Isle of Man. They all had a top marginal corporate tax rate of 0%—along with Bahrain.
There was a big shift in marginal tax rates between 1999 and 2009. Most countries dropped their highest corporate tax rate over that period, and some of the biggest top tax bracket reductions were seen in Germany—which went from 52.3% to 29.4%; Iran—which went from 54% to 25%; Saudi Arabia—which dropped to 20% in 2009 from 45% in 1999; and Kuwait, which went from 55% down to 15% in 2009.
Highest Marginal Tax Rate, Corporate Rate (%), 1999-2009
Data is from The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010, April 20, 2010. Click on the column heading to sort the table. | 
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