Just knowing the tax rate tells you almost nothing about tax burden. The US had high tax rates, but that’s not what people paid. There was an extensive system o

Just knowing the tax rate tells you almost nothing about tax burden. The US had high tax rates, but that’s not what people paid. There was an extensive system of deductions that were also eliminated when rates came down. Japan is right at OECD average, just a couple spots above in tax burden for an average worker, and tax to GDP ratio. So people don’t pay the 56% published rate.