International accounting firm KPMG has issued Competitive Alternatives 2010 Special Report: Focus on Tax which shows that the United States’ total business tax burden relative to other first world countries has increased since 2008:
Mexico remains in the number one spot for having the lowest total taxes, but changes to the tax systems in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands have enhanced their attractiveness as tax friendly environments.
The report assesses the general tax competitiveness of 95 cities in 10 countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The analysis focuses on 41 major cities with populations greater than 2 million, and compares the total tax burden faced by companies, including income tax, capital tax, sales tax, property tax, miscellaneous local business taxes, and statutory labor costs.
The report compares the total tax cost between countries and cities using a Total Tax Index (TTI) score for each location, expressed as a percentage of total taxes paid by corporations in the US. A lower score is better since it means lower tax costs for businesses.
Among the countries studied, Mexico has the lowest TTI at 59.9; in other words, total tax costs in Mexico are 40.1% lower than in the US, which has a TTI of 100.0. Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and the UK also have TTI ratings below the US. At the other end of the spectrum, France’s TTI of 181.4 signifies that its total tax costs are 81.4% higher than the US standard.
Tax Competitiveness – 2010 and 2008 Rankings by Country
Rank
Country
2010
2008
1
Mexico
59.9
1
2
Canada
63.3
3
3
Netherlands
76.4
2
4
Australia
80.8
4
5
United Kingdom
88.0
6
6
United States
100.0
5
7
Germany
124.1
8
8
Italy
129.6
9
9
Japan
138.0
7
10
France
181.4
10
(Hat tip: Paul Caron)
Related Posts:
- Tax Lies: U.S. Corporations Pay Little or No Taxes
- WSJ: Time to Repeal the Corporate Income Tax
- Increase Corporate Taxes, Says Obama Chief Economic Advisor
- Ways & Means Chairman Charlie Rangel Wants to Reduce Corporate Tax Rate to 28%
- Should we Kill the Corporate Income Tax? One Man’s Argument for Assassination
- U.S. Corporate Tax Second Highest of 30 OECD Nations
- The GAO Study on Corporate Taxes and the Scapegoating of Corporations
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1 We’re Number 1: America Has the Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World // Dec 15, 2010 at 11:46 pm
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