
List of countries by tax rates - mimsee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates
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jakozaur
Wikipedia article oversimplifies labour taxation. It consists mostly of
marginal tax rate and doesn't take into account tax breaks, tax-free
allowance, etc. If you take that into account the picture is different.

I find OECD report on average labour taxation the best comparison, though
limited to fewer countries: [http://www.oecd.org/ctp/tax-policy/taxing-wages-
tax-burden-t...](http://www.oecd.org/ctp/tax-policy/taxing-wages-tax-burden-
trends-latest-year.htm)

Also keep in mind in most developed countries there are major differences
between average effective tax rate paid by single earners and family with
dependents.

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ralfn
It's almost impossible to compare any single piece of a tax system in
isolation without taking into account the cost of the living, market access
and the tax system as a whole.

It may be better to look at government spending in proportion to the GDP and
ignore how the government actually got this money. Even when the government
lends money -- that's just money your grandchildren will have to pay back
through taxes (with interest).

The gov-spending/GDP ratio should be a better indicator of the 'tax' climate.

But even that, could be very misleading. If you need a lot of high educated
staff, you would prefer a government that spends that money on free high
quality class-free education. If you are an oil company, you might actually
prefer that money being spend on a war machine.

~~~
rvern
Of course, Wikipedia also has a list of countries by government spending and
tax revenue as percentage of GDP:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending#As_a_perce...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending#As_a_percentage_of_GDP).

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jbmorgado
What I would actually appreciate was a source that would tell me the "real"
taxes paid at every level. I don't know if one exists, but it would be a
really interesting comparison.

I.e.: A source giving real percentage of taxes paid for each anual income.
Why: because these here at the maximum taxes. These are pretty accurate for
lower income people since they don't have many ways to avios paying taxes, but
when you get to the very rich the number changes completely, they use a number
of loopholes to avoid paying their taxes.

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tasty_freeze
I'm not sure what to think of this information. It shows maximum tax rates,
but the more useful figure is effective tax rates.

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throwaway2016a
I doubt many people in the US pay the maximum tax rate listed here. I had no
idea it was so high.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of tax payers are in each
bucket for the countries that have large ranges.

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dogma1138
More than you would think.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivity_in_United_States...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivity_in_United_States_income_tax)

I'm always surprised to see how just how much misinformation and
misconceptions there are in regards to the US tax system.

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kornakiewicz
It's great example how to show numeric data and tell nothing about the world.
In list like this I would expected weighted-average rate or at least median
(how much typical person pays).

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bencollier49
North Korea has surprisingly low tax rates for a communist country. I suppose
if all the companies are owned by the state, they can just decrease salaries
instead.

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matt4077
Today's North Korea doesn't have much to do with communism. It's a monarchy or
a hereditary dictatorship or "Fascism meets Micromanagement". The difference
is mostly in the distribution of power: while the individual is highly
restricted in both systems, in communism it's your peers that are supposed to
make your life miserable, not the supreme leader.

It's even more pronounced with Russia and China (and nowadays Turkey, with
Hungarian aspirations to join the club): Fiercely capitalistic economies* in
an almost complete absence of other civil liberties.

For NK, I doubt that a comparison makes any sense, considering how far removed
it is from other countries' societies. How do you account for widespread
forced labor? What's the real value of any income they get if part of it is in
quotas for food, and most prices are subject to change at a moments notice
when PJ thinks it's a good idea or toilet paper reserves are running dry?

*as long as it doesn't come into contact with political realm, and sometimes obscured by an additional kleptocratic layer.

