Tax Facts

[n2doc]

Paul Krugman

Via Mark Thoma, CBPP has a great set of charts on taxes. Here’s one:


Aside from the low-tax status of the United States, it’s interesting to note that all the European crisis countries have relatively low taxes by European standards. I wouldn’t claim that this is a causal relationship — but it certainly puts the lie to those claiming that big welfare states were somehow responsible for the crisis.

This is also interesting:


I think that fall in the 90s is mainly about the 1997 cut in capital gains taxes; and then, of course, you can really see the Bush tax cuts. Clearly, we need to cut taxes even further so as to balance the budget.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/tax-facts/

Next time some RW stooge complains about how we pay so much in taxes, or says it is wrong to tax the rich, send them these two charts. If they feel like they are paying too much it is because the rich are paying so little.