A tie for the top spot
If you're hunting for the lowest tax rates in Canton St. Gallen, you're currently looking at a tie. Marbach and Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann share the number one spot.
For a single person earning 80,000 CHF, both municipalities sit at a 10.4% tax burden. For a couple making 120,000 CHF, it's 15.8%, and for a family earning 150,000 CHF, it's 14.3%.
Just a fraction of a percentage point behind them is the next cluster: Benken, Buchs, and Eggersriet. They all sit identically at 10.5% for singles, 15.9% for couples, and 14.4% for families.
The gap between best and worst
St. Gallen doesn't have a single low-tax outlier; it has a packed top tier that gradually descends. And even when you hit the absolute bottom of the ranking (PfÀfers), the tax penalty isn't ruinous.
The spread across the entire canton is remarkably small:
- Singles:
10.4%to11.2% - Couples:
15.8%to17.1% - Families:
14.3%to15.5%
When the difference between the cheapest and most expensive municipality is only 0.8 to 1.3 percentage points, chasing the absolute lowest tax rate isn't worth a terrible commute.
Use this as a filter, not a final answer
This ranking is a great way to build a shortlist. If your preferred towns are in that top cluster, you know you're getting the best tax deal St. Gallen has to offer. But once you've narrowed your options down to a few places, shift your focus to housing costs and quality of life. The rent difference between Marbach and PfÀfers will likely impact your wallet far more than the municipal tax multiplier.
And as always, once you have a specific address in mind, run your exact numbers through the official tax calculator before signing anything.
