The truth about U.S. taxes is that they aren’t high enough

Monday being tax day, it’s only proper to deliver an important home truth to American taxpayers: You don’t pay enough. That isn’t a reference to the hoary old questions about whether corporations and the rich pay their fair share (they don’t, but more on that in a moment). It’s more about the level of government revenues in the U.S. compared with other developed countries, and compared with what’s needed. U.S. tax revenues from all levels of government in 2017 were lower as a percentage of gross domestic product than in all but five of the 36 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — 27.1%. The highest were France and Denmark, at 46.2% and 46%; the lowest Mexico, at 16.2% The OECD average was 34.2%. These figures put the lie to the claim often heard from anti-tax conservatives — and in grousing around the water cooler — that Americans are taxed at the absolute limit. They’re not, especially in relation to the costs of all the services Americans expect from their government.