September 22, 2025 3 min read
“Self-employed? Same work, up to four times lower taxes.” The headline, which reliably served as a trigger for public outrage, spread across virtually all mainstream media outlets within a few hours. We do not know whether the authors of the PAQ Research study wanted to emphasize this example, which is far from reality, but in principle it does not matter. This is how their work was communicated to the public, and how the public accepted it. How many readers will pause when reading such statements, look up the methodology, and consider the broader economic context? We all know the answer.
Yet the context is crucial.
Our analysis therefore looked at the PAQ Research findings in more detail. For example, the aforementioned claim of four times higher taxation of employees is based on an extreme case that only remotely reflects everyday practice. Therefore, especially in the area of IT, which the study describes as “low-cost”, we have shown through an illustrative example that the real costs of entrepreneurs can exceed half of their income.
We also consider it problematic that the widely cited material works with incomparable bases for calculating the tax rate for employees and self-employed persons. By proverbially mixing apples and oranges, the study gives the impression that self-employed entrepreneurs have unfair advantages and that their position needs to be “leveled.” However, our analysis shows that the reality is much more complex.
Our ambition is not to confront, but to complement the important economic debate with facts from tax practice and business reality. We believe that without this context, there is a risk that political solutions will lead to further unjustified pressure on small businesses. We want to uncover the main reason why some people prefer entrepreneurship to employment and point to the right culprit in this context.
The complete analysis can be found HERE [ 239 kb ].
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