We Are Undertaxed! Check Out OECD & Carolyn Bennett

19 OECD countries tax more than us, all those with decent services, and until recently, only 10 taxed slightly less - Mexico, Turkey, Korea, USA, Japan, Switzerland, Slovakia, Ireland, Australia and Greece. However, given their troubles, some of those ten will be taxing more, like Ireland, Greece and the USA (plus Obamacare tax effects). Which extremes should we be comparing ourselves to, Mexico & Turkey, or Denmark & Sweden? Look, our tax burden is 16% lower than the EU 15 average (ie. Western Europe - we're still 14% than EU 19 average including less comparable Eastern European countries). Keep in mind that these numbers are based on 2007 numbers and provisional 2008 information, so given how much better placed we are compared to others, esp. post-recession, the margins are probably even wider, and growing. We can easily raise taxes a bit to pay for cost growth, as Finance has noted: "Even very large increases in health spending as a share of GDP are technically feasible, provided citizens choose to devote an ever increasing portion of GDP to the health-care system and are willing to pay for its cost."

As Carolyn Bennett recently reminded us, "There's no question that Canadians sometimes expect to be able to pay American level taxes and have European level services". But forced to choose, they pick the services and commensurate taxes. Actually, Bennett has been full of good sense on health care recently, on QC budget & user fees. She's giving a speech in Chicago tomorrow Healthcare: Understanding the Future. Could be interesting. She provides a useful backgrounder in the form of a brief and easily understandable Powerpoint presentation by Monique Bégin & Judy Erola.