| If we are to assume per average per capita GDP, and standardized GDP year over year growth rate for the OECD countries, there is no indication of a higher tax rate slowing the pace of economic growth, it is actually the opposite for some of the countries. Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Luxembourg all have much higher per capita GDP and overall GDP growth YOY [1] versus the United States, yet these 4 countries have wildly higher overall tax rates. [2] Germany, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, and Iceland are all within 5% of the USA per capita GDP, yet, their taxation is also much higher than the average tax burden of the USA. This is a wildly polarizing topic because of the sheer number of statistics available to everyone, and the amount of cherry picking everyone does to prove or argue their point. There are facts, and then there is misrepresentation of the facts. I'm not an expert but the raw data truly does not suggest a higher tax rate will lead to a slower pace of economic growth. Where have I gone wrong in my analysis (if I have done so?) [1] https://data.oecd.org/gdp/gross-domestic-product-gdp.htm [2] https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/revenue-statistics-highl... [3] https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-an... Edit: I utilized the 2015-2018 data available from source [1], however, it can be backdated to 1960 but I didn't have the time to tinker around with it much. Source [3] provides a somewhat reasonable analysis of US corporate tax rates and economic growth since 1947 but not a comparison to the OECD countries. |
That said, I’m really curious of the causation of higher tax rates on economic growth. Like, if you want to still be just as rich, you have to work even harder.
Personally I think slightly higher taxes would be acceptable, but I don’t at all trust the economic efficiency of the federal government right now. We need food, transit, houses, healthcare and education... but I don’t think these would be spending priorities.