Fun Facts about Tax

Working class Americans pay higher income taxes than do Canadians? Really? According to the Rich Countries Club, the OECD, the tax squeeze on American workers is a good bit worse than we get in the Great White North.

The OECD's study, "Taxing Wages 2018," found that the employee net average tax rate for a single person in Canada with no children was 22.8 per cent in 2017, the 11th lowest among 35 OECD countries. The U.S. clocked in at 26.1 per cent.

The OECD's estimates take into account federal and provincial or state taxes, as well as social security contributions and money returned in the form of family benefits.

"The employee net average tax rate for an average married worker with two children in Canada was reduced to 1.2 per cent in 2017, which is the 32nd lowest in the OECD," the report noted. 

In other words, an average one-income household with two children now keeps 98.8 per cent of their gross income, once the child benefit is factored in. In the U.S., the same family would pay 14.2 per cent in taxes, a tax rate some 12 times higher than in Canada.

It's worth noting, though, that the child benefit varies greatly by income, and higher-income families are likely to see very little in payments, while some lower-income families may get more in child benefits than they pay in taxes.

Of course this is only about working stiffs, not the Koch bros. or the Coors family or Sheldon Adelson or even Donald J. Trump and clan. For them, America remains the Land of Everyday Low Taxes especially after congressional Republicans lavished the latest round of tax cuts on the rich.