People in highly taxed countries better off: report

[Stephanie]

Last Updated: Thursday, December 7, 2006 | 7:16 AM ET
CBC News
People who live in countries with higher taxes enjoy lower rates of poverty, have more equal income distribution, more economic security for workers and can expect to live longer, suggests a new study from a left-leaning think tank.

Written by two Toronto tax law professors for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the report, released Wednesday, is blunt.

"Tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation's citizens," say authors Neil Brooks and Thaddeus Hwong.

The study compares four high-tax Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland) with six low-tax Anglo-American countries (the U.K., U.S., Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).

The four Nordic countries scored better than the lower-taxed countries on most of the 50 indicators measured in the report, including:

Rate of poverty, equality of income distribution, and economic security for workers.
GDP per capita.
Rate of household saving and net national saving.
Innovation, including percentage of GDP spent on research and development.
Growth competitiveness as ranked by the World Economic Forum.
Rates of secondary school and university completion.
Rate of drug use.
Leisure time.
The more lowly taxed countries came out on top in seven of the 50 indicators, including their sense of freedom, their suicide rates and the number of people reporting they are very happy.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2006/12/06/tax-policyalternatives.html?ref=rss

 

[theHawk]

OMG lol yea thats not biased!


:rotflmao:

 

[Hobbit]

Rate of poverty, equality of income distribution, and economic security for workers.
GDP per capita.
Rate of household saving and net national saving.
Innovation, including percentage of GDP spent on research and development.
Growth competitiveness as ranked by the World Economic Forum.
Rates of secondary school and university completion.
Rate of drug use.
Leisure time.
The more lowly taxed countries came out on top in seven of the 50 indicators, including their sense of freedom, their suicide rates and the number of people reporting they are very happy.

Just a sec, I'm going to run this through Babelfish's bullshit to English dictionary.

Rate of poverty, equality of income distribution, and economic security for workers.

This means how much societal leeches get from the government, how socialist the government is, and how hard it is for a business to fire an incompetant worker.

GDP per capita.

This just means how much the average person spends locally. GDP per capita is about as useful as the 'time of possession' stat.

Rate of household saving and net national saving.

How much people put into savings instead of spend. In some countries, this is forced. However, it is indicative of what is wrong with the U.S. tax code. If only spent money were taxed, more would be saved.

Innovation, including percentage of GDP spent on research and development.

Innovation is not tangible, and the tangible measures they're using are bullcrap. It doesn't matter how much is spend on R&D, America actualy succeeds at R&D. Did the Nords invent the microprocessor? I think not.

Growth competitiveness as ranked by the World Economic Forum.

Even I don't know what 'growth competitiveness' is, but I know I don't trust the World Economic Forum, which ranks the US below some vastly inferior countries on all its lists.

Rates of secondary school and university completion.

This is a means, not an end. Sure, Sweden may have a higher rate of graduation, but how many American students do you see flying overseas to attend Swedish universities, as opposed to vice versa? The end is a quality education, not a slip of paper.

Rate of drug use.

No doubt this means illegal drugs, of which there are far fewer in these liberal utopias.

Leisure time.

Time the government forces your employer to allow to waste sittin' on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away. Americans don't have government mandated wastes of time, which is why those with an excellent work ethic do well here.

The more lowly taxed countries came out on top in seven of the 50 indicators, including their sense of freedom, their suicide rates and the number of people reporting they are very happy.

And these don't matter as much as GDP per capita how?

 

[theHawk]

Its a complete joke. Total propaganda for socialists.