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Taxes

Everybody knows in the US we pay too much in taxes.  Federal income tax, Social Security (FICA), State income tax, property tax, sales tax, death tax, gasoline tax, cigarette tax, liquor tax, they're all confiscatory.  This is the government taking away an increasing amount of wealth I generate every year, and not giving me anything in return.

The Republicans want small government, so they lower taxes.  The Democrats push big government programs, so they tax and spend.  What could be clearer?

Wise Up!  Everything written before this sentence is factually and logically wrong, playing on your emotions to get another tax cut where millionaires get the big breaks.

If you look at mature, industrialized nations, we have the second lowest taxes in the world.  Sweden pays double the amount of taxes we do.  Let's compare the US to Europe:

• Income and Social Security tax:  Everyone pays more than we do, except for Japan, Korea, and Switzerland.

• Sales tax:  US average is 8%.  The rest of the industrialized world averages 19%.

• Gas tax:  US average is 15%  Europe averages 66%.

• Property tax:  US and Europe are about the same (there's no way to compare closely).

• Corporate tax (effective):  In the US, corporations pay 7% of overall taxes; almost all of other industrialized countries have corporations pay much more.

So the right question to ask is, are you getting value for the taxes you pay?  Is it a bargain to have low taxes, and then pay $10,000 a year for health insurance?  In the US today, you're getting far more government services than you pay for.  You might not like those services, or value them... but every day of the year, the government produces $2B more in government services than you pay for.  The Budget.htm doesn't lie...although the numbers sure are misleading.

Of course, there are tax havens that let people and corporations get away with paying less, but these countries provide almost nothing in the way of services in exchange.  If you'd like to live in the Ukraine, I'll bet their taxes are darned low.

Find out more...

• OECD:  This organization does the best international economic comparisons

• Grover Norquist:  The single most powerful big government/tax fighter

• Tax Burden Unchanged:  Despite the noise, we're paying about the same taxes...

• Debate Center:  Lots of quick factoids and arguments on taxes
  
  
  

What did we get wrong?