USA again ranked 2nd in Global Study of Tax Burden on Workers. France again ranks in last place

American workers continue to maintain a relatively low tax burden compared to their counterparts in other developed nations, according to the fourth edition of The Tax Burden on Global Workers: A Comparative Index, published in September by the Institut Économique Molinari (Paris), in partnership with the Tholos Foundation.

The comprehensive study, authored by James Rogers and Nicolas Marques, provides an in-depth analysis of the tax burdens faced by workers in 34 countries – representing nearly 60% of the global economy – and determines a “Tax Liberation Day” for typical wage-earners in each country.

In the 34 countries studied, only South Africans enjoyed a lower tax burden than Americans this year.

In calculating American workers’ Tax Liberation Day of Aprill 11th, the study took income taxes, social security contributions (by employees and employers), and sales taxes into account. Because the latter two vary between America’s states, an average of five highly-populated states (California, Florida, New York, Ohio, and Texas) was studied.

In those five states, “sales tax rates are in the same ballpark,” noted Rogers, “but workers in California and New York are actually working more than two weeks longer than those in Texas and Florida to pay high state income taxes.”

Worldwide, the French again faced the heaviest tax burden. Employers in France must spend $2.18 to give employees $1 of net buying power, and their Tax Liberation Day is on July 17th.

Second-to-last place went again to Belgium (July 15th), where imposing the 2nd-highest tax rates in the world has not brought great results for its people: Among the 34 countries studied, Belgium’s education system ranks 13th in the OECD’s PISA rankings, 9th in the World Happiness Report, and 10th in the US News Best Countries survey. “Being a Belgian taxpayer sometimes feels like getting a Volkswagen when you’ve paid for an Audi,” said Rogers, who is based in Brussels.

Austria, now in third-to-last place, has been moving in the right direction with policies to prevent “bracket creep” in the face of high inflation. This has also limited unemployment to a current rate of 5.1%, versus an EU average of 6.4%. In America, the unemployment rate is considerably lower, at 4.2%. “Making it less expensive to hire employees – by lowering the taxes levied both on employees and employers – will ensure that the greatest number are hired,” wrote the study authors Rogers and Marques. “The more of their income workers can save, spend and invest, the less will be needed from governments to care for them in the future.”

“The United States has performed comparatively well in this index for a third year in a row now, thanks largely to congressional Republican resistance to Biden’s proposed tax increases such as the global minimum tax,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. “Under the Trump administration, the United States government will indeed be smaller and taxes will be lower, so Americans can look forward to keeping more of their hard-earned money.”

The full study can be found here.