Talk of The Villages Florida - How Much Do We Pay In Income Taxes?

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How Much Do We Pay In Income Taxes?

With the prospect of some tax increases to pay for healthcare reform on the horizon, it made me wonder, how much do we pay in income taxes compared with other developed countries in the world?

I stumbled on the following analysis published by the Tax Policy Center of the Brookings Institution, which I found informative...

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/Uploa...t_05-08-06.pdf

Quote:

Posted by Guest (Post 215590)

Having lived in other countries, there's a reason the world (including those from other G8 nations) wants to live here.

Perhaps, having a slightly lower tax rate here has provided Americans with a much better standard of living than anywhere else. That happens when the people have more discretionary income, as opposed to the peole working solely for the government which decides what's done with everyone's money.

When one compares home ownership, variety of environments, recreation opportunities and a whole host of other intangibles that make the USA the first choice for all immigrants, socialism under the guise of being a democracy is pale in comparison.

The more we raise taxes, especially during a time when our number of taxpayers is depleting, the more reduced becomes out standard of living.

There is no free lunch.

As Steve Z indicates, comparing our tax rates to other industrialized countries is a false choice. There is a reason why the USA has the strongest economy in the world. Why would we entertain the notion of emulating economic policies of weaker countries? This is not just partisan talking points. It is also the subject of a study by the 2004 Nobel Prize winner in Economics:

Quote:

This issue is encapsulated in one question that is currently puzzling policy makers: Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans? The answer is important because it suggests policy proposals that will improve European standards of living (which should give a boost to its gross national happiness, by the way). However, an incorrect answer to that question will result in policies that will only exacerbate Europe's problems and could have implications for other countries that are looking for best practices.

Here's a startling fact: Based on labor market statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Americans aged 15-64, on a per-person basis, work 50% more than the French. Comparisons between Americans and Germans or Italians are similar. What's going on here? What can possibly account for these large differences in labor supply? It turns out that the answer is not related to cultural differences or institutional factors like unemployment benefits, but that marginal tax rates explain virtually all of this difference. I admit that when I first conducted this analysis I was surprised by this finding, because I fully expected that institutional constraints are playing a bigger role. But this is not the case.

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And that brings us back to our framing question about the labor supplies of the U.S. and Europe: The bottom line is that a thorough analysis of historical data in the U.S. and Europe indicates that, given similar incentives, people make similar choices about labor and leisure. Free European workers from their tax bondage and you will see an increase in gross domestic product (oh, and you might see a pretty significant increase in gross national happiness, too). The same holds true for Americans.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1...551061,00.html

It is easy to think that the solution to our problems is to just increase our tax rates and as a result the budget can be balanced, health care can be given to all and we can free ourselves of dependancy on fossil fuel. This seems to be the mantra of Obama and the Dems. Unfortunately, you've got Noble prize winners saying that the economy is a bit more complex than that and to tinker with increased tax rates could bring our entire GDP down with it.