American taxpayers getting off easy

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

As the GOP presidential candidates rally around the battle cry of the need to cut Americans' taxes, there's fresh evidence of just how heavy that tax burden is. Compared to the rest of the developed world, though, U.S. taxpayers have it pretty easy. 

Of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only Chile and Mexico impose a lower tax burden than Uncle Sam, according to the latest report from the Paris-based grouping of advanced economies.

As politicians from Washington to Athens spar over how to balance federal budgets, the OECD found that the U.S. collects 24.1 cents in taxes for every dollar of gross domestic product.  Mexico's collects just 17.4 percent of its total economic output in taxes; Chile collects 18.4 percent. The average ratio inched up to 33.8 percent in 2009, the latest year available.

The latest data show that Denmark and Sweden continue to hold the top two spots as most heavily taxed.

Since 1995, the U.S. has also been cutting taxes faster than all but five of the 30 countries tracked by the OECD. As a percentage of GDP, U.S. tax revenues fell 3.7 percent from 1995 to 2009. About half of the OECD countries raised taxes during that period. Poland, Ireland, New Zealand, Israel and the Slovak Republic cut taxes more deeply than the U.S.

Overall, tax burdens as a percentage of GDP have stabilized, after falling since the recession of 2007 and the financial Panic of 2008 cut into government revenues. The average tax burden hit 35.2 percent in 2007; the record was set in 2000, when the average burden in the 30 countries surveyed was 35.3 percent of GDP

All other developed countries pay a larger percentage of GDP in taxes than the United States.  

Japan pays a third more. 

Our staunchest ally, Israel, pays nearly twice as much.

And Denmark - which not only has a healthy economy but is the happiest country on earth - pays two and half times as much. 

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.

Generally speaking, the United States no longer pays enough tax to keep civilization alive. 

Even accounting for the wastefulness that "goes with government," we still "get what we pay for."

The national obsession with "cutting budgetary fat" is the logic of anorexia. 

To glimpse anorexia's end state, visit http://images.google.com/ - turn off "Safe Search" - and type "Anorexia" in the search bar.

Denmark Is Happiest Country, U.S. Misses Top 10

By Natalie Wolchover | LiveScience.com – Oct 13, 2011

A new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found that Danish people are the happiest among those in the 40 countries that were studied. Depending on the happiness scale used, Americans rank somewhere between No. 12 and No. 19 in the results.

In the "How's Life?" initiative, the results of which were published online Oct. 12, the OECD used data from 2010 Gallup world polls to calculate the happiness and well-being of people in 40 different countries, and investigated which factors have the strongest influence on people's happiness.

On a scale of 0 to 10, citizens of Denmark rated their life satisfaction at 7.8, on average. Citizens of Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Australia, Israel and Finland were next most satisfied, followed by people in Ireland, Austria, and the United States, where people rated their life satisfaction at 7.2. Chinese and Hungarian people reported the lowest overall life satisfaction, both at 4.7.

When asked the question "How are you feeling today?" Danes again came in at the top, with approximately 88 percent responding that they felt positive emotions. On this scale, Americans ranked No. 19, with about 83 percent feeling positive. [Click for full results]

Overall, the OECD report found that well-being has increased on average over the past fifteen years. People are richer and more likely to be employed; they enjoy better housing conditions and are exposed to lower air pollution; they live longer and are more educated; they are also exposed to fewer crimes.

Within countries, however, the report found that happiness levels vary widely. "Some groups of the population, particularly less educated and low-income people, tend to fare systematically worse in all dimensions of well-being considered in this report," the OECD stated. "For instance, they live shorter lives and report greater health problems; their children obtain worse school results; they participate less in political activities; they can rely on lower social networks in case of needs; they are more exposed to crime and pollution; they tend to be less satisfied with their life as a whole than more educated and higher-income people."

The OECD also investigated which life factors have the biggest impact on well-being. The group polled more than half a million people from around the world in an online survey, and then compared their stated happiness and life satisfaction with other attributes, such as their employment status and social and political engagement. First and foremost, the researchers found that "having a job is an essential element of well-being. Good jobs provide earnings, but also shape personal identity and opportunities for social relationships," the OECD stated in a press release.

The survey also revealed that shorter commutes, access to green space, a clean environment, spending time with friends and family, good health and engaging in political activity (such as signing petitions and contacting representatives) all correlate directly to people's feelings of happiness, and have a larger impact than people's income. [Want to Be Happy? Stop Trying]

According to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, the results of the "How's Life?" report suggest that governments should focus on goals other than economic progress. "Some may wonder whether it is still opportune to talk about well-being, rather than just focusing on the economic growth needed to get our countries out of this crisis," Gurría said. "I strongly believe that … we have to consider a broader picture in our policymaking, because a 'growth as usual' approach is simply not enough. In the current difficult political context, it is of utmost importance to define core objectives besides level of income, such as improving our citizens' well-being, ensuring access to opportunities and preserving our social and natural environment."


This article was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow us on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover.

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The United States is not a very happy country - and is becoming unhappier all the time. 

This cascading unhappiness is a direct result of civilizational collapse.

And collapse is directly attributable to the nation's refusal to pay adequate tax.