Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. -Accomplish hours of research in seconds -Instantly draft high-quality communications -Verify answers using a library of trusted tax content. Learn more

Tax Foundation: On April 1, U.S. Is #1 (World’s Highest Corporate Tax Rate)

Tax Foundation logo 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


About the Author

Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. Blue J's generative AI tax research solution is transforming how tax experts work. Learn more.
Information and rates on advertising on TaxProf Blog

Discover more from TaxProf Blog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading