I was curious to find out just how badly overtaxed Americans really are, this being tax season and all, and the Republicans constantly howling about how much pain our tax system is causing them.
I found this article in The Atlantic on-line. It’s dated January 2013, so it’s a year old, but written after the Bush tax cuts expired, so would clearly reflect the understandable rage about the exorbitant tax rates in this country, right.
According to the article, the taxes on an income of $100,000 were compared in 114 countries around the world. And guess where the USA came in - 55th. That’s right, there are 54 countries around the world where that wage-earner would pay more in taxes. We are right in the middle.
The article also compared tax rates on a $300,000 wage earner. Since our high-income earners are clearly overburdened, that would show up in the onerous taxes Americans have to pay, right? Well, guess what – the USA is 53rd. Yeah, 52 other countries tax their high-wage-earners at a higher rate. Right in the middle again.
But if you want to see the real kicker, take a look at the graphic below the fold. Try to imagine the heads exploding over at Fox News.
The same Atlantic article calculated individual tax rates as a percentage of GDP for the 34 countries in the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), essentially all the first-world countries. And guess where the American tax rate came in.
Our outrageously high tax rate is higher than . . . wait for it - only Turkey, Chile, and Mexico !!
So show this article to your Republican friends - if they want to lower their taxes, now they have relocation options.
The article closed with this fascinating prediction.
. . . after 2020 the government's health care bill will start to make our spending levels look, for lack of a better term, European.
Stay tuned.
Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 11:16 AM PT: Update: I want to point out that the data in the charts and the statistics that I quoted do not reflect the expiration of the Bush tax cuts in January 2013. Note that the graphic is dated 2008, when the tax cuts were in effect. I suspect, but do not know, that the US may have moved higher up the scale after the Bush tax cuts expired.