#21 International Tax Competitiveness

The friendly folks at the Tax Foundation put together an index of the most tax competitive nations.

What does it mean to them to be tax competitive? “A well-structured tax code is easy for taxpayers to comply with and can promote economic development while raising sufficient revenue for a government’s priorities. In contrast, poorly structured tax systems can be costly, distort economic decision-making, and harm domestic economies.”

Who is #21? The U.S.A

What’s the top 10 look like?

• Estonia
• Latvia
• New Zealand
• Switzerland
• Luxembourg
• Lithuania
• Sweden
• Czech Republic
• Australia
• Slovak Republic 

Where are the U.S. tax strengths:

• expensing for business investments
• Last-In-First-Out treatment of the cost of inventory
• Corporations can deduct property taxes

Where are the U.S.’s challenges?

• progressive income tax with a top rate of 46%
• does not exempt foreign capital gains income
• real property tax burden is among the highest

Tax Foundation | 2020 INTERNATIONAL TAX COMPETITIVENESS INDEX