Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
>> US tax rates are much lower than most other countries', IIRC even Bill 
>> Gates
>> is only paying something like 37% (the maximum rate).
>
> From
> http://www.greaterzuricharea.ch/content/05/downloads/oecd_tax_revenue2003.pdf
> (tax revenue as percentage of GDP, in 2003):
>
> USA 25%
> NZ 35%
> UK 35%
> Germany 36%
> Sweden 51%
>
>> My economics professor told a story about his Swedish grandmother, who
>> wrote a best-selling book on knitting. She got 1% of the profit
>> (amazingly, she thought it was fair).
>
> IMO it's not that much about how much taxes, it's more about what is being
> done with the taxes. The raw numbers don't say anything about the benefit
> the population has from paying the taxes.

At the risk of starting another economics-related thread and being sucked 
into it... :)

Government is always less efficient at spending money, than the private 
sector. It's just the nature of the beast (recall our recent Shuttle 
software development discussion) -- those in the private sector who waste 
money, are sooner or later self-destruct. What's worse, the government 
always invents uses for the extra money it collects -- you often hear about 
new taxes, but how often do you hear about tax repeals?

Government should only be providing services that are otherwise not possible 
(e.g., police and national defense). It may also *carefully*, relying on the 
advice of economists and not the opinion of the general public,  exercise 
its power to adjust for externalities (both positive and negative): tax 
polluters, subsidize vaccines, build public libraries, break up monopolies, 
etc. That's it.

It's not the government's job to provide medical care, free college 
education, or employment. I know the majority of people in Europe (and some 
parts of Latin America) think otherwise, but being a majority does not make 
them right.

-Vitaliy 

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist