Sorry America, Your Taxes Aren't High (bloomberg.com)

Americans generally feel they're being over-taxed, especially around this time of the year. But is that really true? An article on Bloomberg investigates: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development analyzed how 35 countries tax wage-earners, making it possible to compare tax burdens across the world's biggest economies. Each year, the OECD measures what it calls the "tax wedge," the gap between what a worker gets paid and what they actually spend or save. Included are income taxes, payroll taxes, and any tax credits or rebates that supplement worker income. Excluded are the countless other ways that governments levy taxes, such as sales and value-added taxes, property taxes, and taxes on investment income and gains. Guess who came out at the top of the list? No. Not the U.S. At the top are Belgium and France, while workers in Chile and New Zealand are taxed the least. America is in the bottom third.

Comments

Re:We don't pay that much

[meglon]

They want all of the rights and privileges of living in the USA, but none of the responsibility of being a citizen. Avoiding responsibility... it's the conservative way.

Re:Taxes are for dummies

[JesseMcDonald]

But as a percent of income the rich buy less, thus paying less taxes.

No, they're still paying more taxes. Far more, in most cases. The fact that those taxes make up a lower fraction of their income does not mean they are paying less taxes than those with lower income. Compared to the value they get for those taxes, which does not vary much from one individual to another based on income, they are significantly overpaying. Moreover, that portion they don't spend on taxable goods is being invested, which does far more good for society than one could reasonably expect to result from handing it over to the government. You're proposing to seize those "excess" earnings and distribute them as a handout, which at best would just drive up prices, instead of allowing the funds to be invested in finding new ways to improve the efficiency of production and make the goods people need even more affordable. Punishing saving and investment in particular is a lousy way to help the average citizen, ensuring that the next generation will be worse off than its predecessors.