> To raise the percentage rates, politicians have to vote to raise those rates. Private filing means that everyone is very aware of how much they’re paying in t

> To raise the percentage rates, politicians have to vote to raise those rates. Private filing means that everyone is very aware of how much they’re paying in taxes. It’s not just an invoice they receive listing how much was withheld. They have to recalculate it. That makes them much more sensitive about voting for politicians who vote for higher taxes. I'm not sure how you think private filing is related to manually filing your taxes. Yes, if taxes were just paying an invoice at the end of the year, that would make them less noticeable, but that's not a necessary component of private taxation. Adding up all your income and just calculating a simple percentage would create just as much awareness--probably more, because there's some clarity/transparency that is easier to understand. In fact, I'd argue that a complex filing process puts a focus on where money is coming from, rather than where it is going, which is arguably much more important to make transparent to people. > I don’t think people would consider Chile and Mexico to be developed countries. Any basis you could have for not considering Chile and Mexico to be developed countries applies to large sections of the US (incidentally, they tend to be the parts of the US with the lowest taxes). There's more poverty in the parts of Alabama and West Virginia that I've visited than the parts of Ecuador I've visited. > You’re right that Ireland and South Korea are lower (depending on the year, Ireland cut taxes significantly recently). But they’re together with the US in the bottom band. So the rest of your argument doesn't work, since it was based on your claim that we have the lowest taxes.