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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Nor California & Pac NW
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Detailed info on corporate tax rates in different countries.

http://www.kpmg.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Corporate-and-Indirect-Tax-Rate-Survey-2008v2.pdf

For the total tax rate, look at both the direct tax (corporate income tax) and the indirect tax (VAT, sales taxes, etc). The US appears to have a high direct tax rate (using the "headline" figure of 35% top federal statutory marginal tax rate) but also has a low indirect tax rate (shown as "*" in the table, is about 7-8% if you average out the various state's sales taxes).

Also, for the direct tax, look at both the headline or statutory rate, and the effective rate which is what US companies are actually paying in corporate income tax. The effective rate is 22%. US companies, on average, do not actually pay anywhere near the headline rate.

Tax Analysts: Featured Articles: The Effective Corporate Tax Rate Is Falling

If you use the effective rate of 22%, then the US corporate direct tax rate is actually pretty low compared to the rest of the world, and the total US tax rate (direct + indirect) is also low in comparison.

Naturally, the advocates of lowering US corporate tax rates never tell you about the effective rate, they prefer to talk about the headline rate even though on average US companies don't actually pay it.

What I don't have right now is a comparison of effective tax rates across the globe. I vaguely recall finding and posting that info once, so good search skills might turn it up.
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Old 10-05-2009, 10:06 AM
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