[extropy-chat] Europe vs America (was Depressing thought....)

[Max More]

Giving tax rates for the lower income brackets is misleading unless you 
also note the effects of the exemptions. Many many millions of people in 
the USA do not pay taxes (or get refund checks) when you take this into 
account.

In comparing US rates to European rates, differences in exemptions and 
allowances are crucial.

Regarding the longer lives of the French: it seems far more likely that the 
cause lies in the greater overconsumption of food in the US. Unfortunately, 
European countries are catching up.

Max

At 11:28 AM 11/12/2003, you wrote:
> > lose about 33-37% of their income to all taxation.
> >
>I always thought the US had a pretty low tax rate, but your post and
>others seem to indicate otherwise.  Googling up US tax rates, federal
>taxes for a single person at 23k would be a touch under 14%, and state
>taxes vary widely but i'll assume a median of about 3-4% for a single
>23k'er.  Could you give me details on what the fees and other taxes that
>make up the missing 15%-19%?  (just to clarify, this is a genuine
>question, and i'm not claiming your figures are wrong.  The little i
>know of US taxation is what i've gathered from an hour of googling
>around)
>alejandro

_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max at maxmore.com or more at extropy.org
http://www.maxmore.com
Strategic Philosopher
Chairman, Extropy Institute. http://www.extropy.org <more at extropy.org>
_______________________________________________________