Well, I think I answered that in my comment....it depends how you look at it. If federal income taxes were the only taxes paid then maybe it would be. You started with "Many American’s perception of the taxes they pay is seriously distorted" and I somewhat agree with that. But then you did the math to find the lowest possible outcome and then introduced the concept of comparing to other OECD nations. I provided some counterpoint that basically equates to "Its not that simple!" In isolation, that could be like comparing NJ (a state that loves being near the top of the list for taxes) to Delaware (a state that is perceived to be a tax-free or low-tax nirvana - closer but not really). NJ all in individual tax burden is 9.52% vs DE of 6.28% but the weird thing is that DE income tax burden of 3.62% (4th highest in country) is higher than NJ's 2.42% (22nd) and I will bet that NJ residents will say they pay more income tax than anyone. It is about TOTAL taxes paid because there are so many of them to skin the cat.
I always wonder what the "True" tax comparison is to other countries. Sure our federal may be lower (you happen to cherry pick a almost the best case lowest income scenario BTW - i.e. take the kids out of the equation and its $5600 or $9600 of single - still low in isolation) but there is a lot more than federal tax, there is also state, sometimes local, and FICA (7.65% each for employer/employee). Honestly, I would also say that health care should be factored into the equation even though it is not a tax in the US but must be paid for where it is more socialized in other countries and is basically a transfer payment. We may not have VAT but there is sales tax in most states. Looking at the 2025 OECD report is interesting US tax is at 25.6% of GDP vs OECD avg of 34.1% so this would suggest US has lower taxes, although US also has a more dynamic and growing GDP so.... But on the basis of total taxes collected and where they come from, it is not so clear..... Taxes on individual income accounts for 40% of all US tax revenue vs. 23.7% for OECD avg. Property taxes in US are 11.3% vs 5.1% for OECD avg. US is more favorable for corp taxes at 8.6% of tax receipts vs. 11.3% for OECD. To the point of VAT, that accounts for 20.5% (0 for US) of all taxes collected but other consumption taxes are 16.6% for US vs 10.8% for OECD so that offsets a bit of the VAT. It is probably rather difficult to do a true apples to apples but to use a lowest tax example, and only a single tax of many, to extrapolate across the board is misleading or lazy analysis.
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There are two sides to the coin - taxes AND spending. We might not be taxed enough OR we might be spending too much!
Post: A taxing situation, but is it reality?
Link to comment from July 13, 2026
Well, I think I answered that in my comment....it depends how you look at it. If federal income taxes were the only taxes paid then maybe it would be. You started with "Many American’s perception of the taxes they pay is seriously distorted" and I somewhat agree with that. But then you did the math to find the lowest possible outcome and then introduced the concept of comparing to other OECD nations. I provided some counterpoint that basically equates to "Its not that simple!" In isolation, that could be like comparing NJ (a state that loves being near the top of the list for taxes) to Delaware (a state that is perceived to be a tax-free or low-tax nirvana - closer but not really). NJ all in individual tax burden is 9.52% vs DE of 6.28% but the weird thing is that DE income tax burden of 3.62% (4th highest in country) is higher than NJ's 2.42% (22nd) and I will bet that NJ residents will say they pay more income tax than anyone. It is about TOTAL taxes paid because there are so many of them to skin the cat.
Post: A taxing situation, but is it reality?
Link to comment from July 13, 2026
I always wonder what the "True" tax comparison is to other countries. Sure our federal may be lower (you happen to cherry pick a almost the best case lowest income scenario BTW - i.e. take the kids out of the equation and its $5600 or $9600 of single - still low in isolation) but there is a lot more than federal tax, there is also state, sometimes local, and FICA (7.65% each for employer/employee). Honestly, I would also say that health care should be factored into the equation even though it is not a tax in the US but must be paid for where it is more socialized in other countries and is basically a transfer payment. We may not have VAT but there is sales tax in most states. Looking at the 2025 OECD report is interesting US tax is at 25.6% of GDP vs OECD avg of 34.1% so this would suggest US has lower taxes, although US also has a more dynamic and growing GDP so.... But on the basis of total taxes collected and where they come from, it is not so clear..... Taxes on individual income accounts for 40% of all US tax revenue vs. 23.7% for OECD avg. Property taxes in US are 11.3% vs 5.1% for OECD avg. US is more favorable for corp taxes at 8.6% of tax receipts vs. 11.3% for OECD. To the point of VAT, that accounts for 20.5% (0 for US) of all taxes collected but other consumption taxes are 16.6% for US vs 10.8% for OECD so that offsets a bit of the VAT. It is probably rather difficult to do a true apples to apples but to use a lowest tax example, and only a single tax of many, to extrapolate across the board is misleading or lazy analysis.
Post: A taxing situation, but is it reality?
Link to comment from July 10, 2026