The Atlantic

The United States Is Already a Low-Tax Country

The Republican tax cuts would make it an even lower-tax country, and a lower-benefit one too.
Source: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

The United States is a low-tax country.

This is not a widely accepted point, granted. The share of Americans who say that their taxes are too high is at roughly 50 percent, a 15-year peak. Moreover, Republicans have sold their tax bill as an essential tax cut for America’s income-starved, tax-strangled families and businesses, promising to deliver $4,000 a year to the average family and huge boosts to corporate investment. “Today, America has one of the least competitive tax rates on planet Earth, 60 percent. Think of that, 60 percent higher than the average in the developed world. So our taxes are 60 percent higher,” President Trump said this month. “These massive tax cuts will be rocket fuel.”

But much of this rhetoric is incorrect.

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