Income Tax rate comparison around the world

[Eric5273]

Originally Posted by autoque

A few surprising facts. France, Germany and Belgium may as well be called communist countries. Income tax rate of roughly 50%~55%. That's beyond the limit to what can be called socialism, IMO.

IMO you have absolutely no clue what communism or socialism is.

In communist countries, there is no income tax. Income tax is a capitalist idea. In communist countries, government revenue comes from the profits earned by nationalized corporations.

For example, in the United States, the Post Office is nationalized. So when the Post Office makes a profit (which it does most years), that revenue goes to the Federal Government. Now imagine if the oil industry, steel industry, telecommunications, etc. were all nationalized. That is how it is in communist countries, and that is how the government gets its revenue -- not from income tax.

Here is an example:

http://www.reuters.com/article/bonds...30837320080131

HAVANA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Cubans working for foreign companies and embassies are expressing anger at a recent government decision to make them pay income tax on their hard currency bonuses. After four decades of tax-free communist rule, the prospect comes as shock. Since 1996, only artists, writers and self-employed Cubans have paid income tax.



Cuba is starting to move towards capitalism by allowing foreign companies to operate there, so they started an income tax to go along with it, just like all the other capistalist countries.



Another interesting sentence in your article is this:

"but in most of those countries families get added social services, such as secure pensions and health care. "

Add your taxes to what you (or your employer) pay for your family's health care and what you (or your employer) pay into your pension plan or 401k, and I bet your rates will be even higher than those countries.