The Tax Foundation has released Countdown to #1: 2011 Marks 20th Year That U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Is Higher than OECD Average:
There is increasing recognition in Washington that the U.S. corporate tax rate is out of step with the lower tax rates of most industrialized and emerging nations. Indeed, 2011 marks the 20th year in which the U.S. statutory tax rate has been above the simple average of non-U.S. countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
It is now well known that with a combined federal and state corporate tax rate of 39.2%, the U.S. has the second-highest overall rate among OECD nations. Only Japan, with a combined rate of 39.5%, levies a higher rate.
As Figure 1 indicates, the simple average of non-U.S. OECD nations has fallen from 38% in 1992 (the first year in which it fell below the U.S. rate) to 25.5% today. Similarly, the weighted average—which accounts for country size—has fallen from 42.5% in 1992 to 30.1% today. The weighted average rate of non-U.S. countries fell below the U.S. rate in 1998. Thus, 2011 marks the twelfth straight year in which the U.S. has been above the weighted average rate.
These figures and rankings do not reflect the changes that have occurred this year or will take place later in the year. On January 1, 2011, Canada’s national corporate tax rate was reduced from 18% to 16.5%, which gives the country an overall rate of 28%. On April 1, both Japan and the United Kingdom are scheduled to lower their rates as well. Japan is planning to reduce its national rate by 4.5 percentage points, which will bring its overall rate to below 35%. The U.K. rate will fall from 28% to 27% as a first step of a multi-year plan to lower the British rate to 24% by 2014.
After the scheduled rate cuts in Japan and Great Britain take effect, the simple average of non-U.S. OECD nations will drop to about 25% percent and the weighted average will hit 29%. This will leave the U.S. rate a full 10 percentage points higher than the weighted average of our major economic competitors.
Table 1: Corporate Tax Rates in OECD Countries
Country
2010 Rate
2010 Rank
2000 Rate
2000 Rank
Rate Change
Rank Change
Japan
39.54
1
40.87
3
-1.3
2
United States
39.2
2
39.3
6
-0.1
4
France
34.43
3
37.76
7
-3.3
4
Belgium
33.99
4
40.2
4
-6.2
0
Germany
30.2
5
52.0
1
-21.9
-4
Mexico
30
7
35
11
-5.0
4
Spain
30
9
35
13
-5.0
4
Australia
30
6
34
14
-4.0
8
New Zealand
30
8
33
16
-3.0
8
Canada
29.52
10
42.57
2
-13.1
-8
Luxembourg
28.59
11
37.45
8
-8.9
-3
United Kingdom
28
13
30
23
-2.0
10
Norway
28
12
28
26
0.0
14
Italy
27.5
14
37
9
-9.5
-5
Portugal
26.5
15
35.2
10
-8.7
-5
Sweden
26.3
16
28
27
-1.7
11
Finland
26
17
29
24
-3.0
7
Netherlands
25.5
18
35
12
-9.5
-6
Austria
25
19
34
15
-9.0
-4
Denmark
25
20
32
18
-7.0
-2
Korea
24.2
21
30.8
20
-6.6
-1
Greece
24
22
40
5
-16.0
-17
Switzerland
21.17
23
24.93
28
-3.8
5
Turkey
20
24
33
17
-13.0
-7
Czech Republic
19
25
31
19
-12.0
-6
Poland
19
27
30
22
-11.0
-5
Slovak Republic
19
28
29
25
-10.0
-3
Hungary
19
26
18
30
1.0
4
Chile
17
29
15
31
2.0
2
Iceland
15
30
30
21
-15.0
-9
Ireland
12.5
31
24
29
-11.5
-2




