Why do the middle class in USA pay less taxes when compared to other countries?

Question

Taxation Statistics > Statistics > Contribution by middle 40% (Latest available) by country
Rank Countries
Amount (top to bottom)

#1 Denmark:
37.2%
#2 Germany:
36.5%
#3 Netherlands:
36.1%
#4 Norway:
36.1%
#5 Sweden:
35.8%
#6 Finland:
33.4%
#7 Canada:
33.4%
#8 Belgium:
32.6%
#9 United Kingdom:
32%
#10 Australia:
31.1%
#11 Italy:
31%
#12 Ireland:
30.3%
#13 United States:
28.4%
#14 France:
23.5%



DEFINITION: Proportion of taxes paid by the broad income group - middle class 40% . Taxes include all direct income taxes, including employee social security contributions. Income groups were built on the basis of final disposable adjusted income.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tax_con_by_mid_40-taxation-contribution-by-middle-40

Answer 1

Less socialist spending.

Answer 2

Compared to a third world country, the poor in the US would be considered rich. The rich are able to find creative ways to reduce their taxes. As a result, congress passed something known as the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) to combat that. The middle class is doing fine despite terms like "poor middle class". The poor middle class has 2 big SUVs, 3 computers, 2 flat screen tvs, eats out 3 times a week, and is dying from being too fat.

Answer 3

Well, it could be due to recent tax cuts aimed at obtaining middle class votes and increasing middle class spending. More importantly, many of the listed countries, such as the United Kingdom practice Democratic Socialism instead of Capitalist Republicanism. As such they are taxed more in order to fund their universal health care, national media, and free education programs. One doesn't mind paying more taxes if he or she doesn't have to pay medical bills, cable bills, or loan repayments. Some countries, such as Austria, Cuba and France, get similar socialist benefits and still pay less taxes than the average American. It's time for a radical change in our government's spending and taxation policy.

Answer 4

The answer is quite simple: the "middle class" in the United States is gradually being eliminated. The overwhelming majority of the "middle class" technically falls into the category of being low income, while the remainder is split between middle income and (very few) into high income, but not high enough to be considered upper class. So, when you have a diminishing "middle class", it's only natural that they would contribute less of the overall taxes collected.

Answer 5

The overall tax burden of the US as a whole is very low compared to other countries, too.

Everyone here complains so much about how high our taxes are but we pay less taxes than almost any other country.

Answer 6

Look up the word "deficit". European countries don't sell as many treasury bonds like the good ole USA. America imposes 25% of the total world's debt and gladly accepts money from places like China to finance red-ink budgets that only make American politicians look good.

Answer 7

that doesn't mean the average Denmark middle class family pays 37.2% it means the total of all taxes Denmark takes in from the middle class is 37.2% of the total taxes they take in. So they probably have a larger middle class over there then the US

Answer 8

Because other countries pay for their health services, unemployment benefit, old age and disability pensions, death benefit, pre-school, primary and high school education through their taxation. Americans allow themselves to be ripped off (or excluded) by private insurers who are in it for profit, not to benefit society.

Answer 9

No, your data just shows how much of the revenue was given by the middle class. That doesn't mean the taxes are lower.

On the contrary, this means there are more middle-class people in Denmark than in the U.S. This is probably because everybody over there is taxed to death for socialist health care, but that's another story...

Answer 10

Brian said it. We don't pay for universal health care or other social services many European countries do. However, when looking at how much Americans pay for their private insurances and these other services, it is actually pretty comparable.

Answer 11

Because the taxes in this country are set up to punish those who make more money. The Top 1% of taxpayers pay 29% of all taxes. The Top 5% of taxpayers pay 50% of all taxes just does nto seem fair.