In Helsinki, as well as in Finland in general, the taxation is progressive, i.e. the more you earn the more you pay taxes. In practice also a fixed part is added to that, which includes various social security costs. This means that when you are calculating your personal actual tax rate, you should be aware that the taxation consists of two parts 1. The progressive part 2. A fixed part. For about 40k euros the actual tax rate is something like 1. 25% + 2. 7.75% (note that the fixed part varies from one year to another), which would mean that your actual tax rate would be with my estimates 32.75%. A more precise rate you can calculated at www.vero.fi (official tax site in Finland). The actual tax rate in Berlin might not actually be much lower on such salary levels, but having lived there, I just have to point out that the cost of living (food, rent etc) is much much lower in Berlin.
