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Americans complain about taxes more than perhaps any other people from a rich nation, but we frankly don't pay that much. The OECD average is about 35% of GDP.
by gok 10y ago
Americans complain about taxes more than perhaps any other people from a rich nation, but we frankly don't pay that much. The OECD average is about 35% of GDP. The UK pays right about that. The US pays ~27% of GDP. And of course even with that relatively small amount of revenue, a lot of it goes to uniquely American spending schemes like defense or NASA, both of which are vastly better funded than their European equivalents. So it's really not all that surprising that lots of other stuff doesn't get funded much.
That being said, the homeless rate in England and the United States is the same ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_... ). Do you see a similar resistance to supporting people there?
- imh 10y agoDoes that include state taxes?
- hackermailman 10y agoAnd city property tax where the majority of all homeless housing initiatives are funded from, even though homelessness is really a national problem as they migrate to the cities with the best weather and benefits, further straining individual city resources like San Jose.
- gok 10y agoYes.
- ralusek 10y agoPercentage of GDP sounds like an insane way to measure tax rate for individuals.
- gok 10y agoIf you look at individual tax rates the United States is an even bigger outlier. No VAT, and income tax is extremely progressive.