Rich People in the U.S. Seem to Be Pulling Their Tax Weight Relative to Other Industrialized Countries

The United States relied more on tax revenue from wealthy individuals and families than other industrialized countries during the middle of the last decade, the Tax Foundation said Monday. Citing data released in 2008 from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the nonpartisan group said that the ratio of what higher-income households paid in taxes compared to their share of market income was bigger here than in certain other countries. The richest 10 percent of American households paid a 45 percent share of the nation’s taxes in the mid-2000s, the OECD found, while having a 33.5 percent share of market income. That 1.35 ratio was higher than countries including Australia (1.29), Canada (1.22), France (1.1) and Poland (0.84). [The Hill]