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U.S. taxes per person

April 3, 2010

If you're still working on your 2009 tax return, chances are you owe the IRS.

That probably also means you're griping about just how much of your money goes each year to Uncle Sam.

I don't begrudge your grumbling. I've done my share of tax-related grousing over the years and am likely to do more later this weekend.

It's never fun to owe anyone. And having to write a big a check to the tax collector in April really ruins an otherwise lovely spring. (Of course, you probably could avoid that by adjusting your withholding or making estimated tax payments, but those are topics for later nagging postings.)

Globe

Greg Mankiw, an economics professor at Harvard University, recently took a look at just where on the global tax payment scale we Americans rank.

"The most common metric for answering this question is taxes as a percentage of GDP [gross domestic product]," writes Mankiw at his eponymous blog where he makes, as he describes it, Random Observations for Students of Economics. "However, high tax rates tend to depress GDP."

For some purposes, continues Mankiw, a better statistic may be taxes per person. And he computed that amount using Taxes/GDP
x GDP/Person
= Taxes/Person. The results:


France = $15,556 per person
Germany = $13,893 per person
United Kingdom = $13,714 per person  
United States $13,097 per person
Canada = $12,789 per person 
Italy = $12,478 per person 
Spain = $11,014 per person 
Japan = $8,992 per person

Or, as Mankiw noted, the United States is a low-tax country when based on taxes as a percentage of GDP, but as judged by taxes per person, the
United States is in the middle of the pack.

Aren't taxes grand? Something for everyone to love … or hate!

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The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

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TO WRAP UP 2026

It’s over! With October’s extended filing deadline behind us, it is now time to focus on year-end moves to reduce your 2026 tax bill. 

You’ll find ways to do just that on the Tax Tips page (see the More Tax Posts drop-down menu at the top of the blog), as well as the separate tax tip pages for each month, notably October through December. If you’re on the Tax Tips page, you’ll find a monthly list at the end of this column. If you’re on another blog page, you can head straight to the October tips; at the bottom of that tips page you’ll find links to all the other 11 months’ collections of tax advice.

Not to spoil what you’ll find in that tax advice, but it does cover such things as tax deductions for charitable donations, investment moves that could reduce tax due, and ways to max out your tax-favored retirement savings. 

Finally, as the year winds down, things get hectic. There are lots of other things to occupy our time, like the much more fun upcoming holidays. But don’t lose sight of taxes, since timing is key. To be of use, most tax moves must be made by the end of the tax year. That’s Thursday, Dec. 31, which also is the last business day of the year. 

So that you don’t miss that final tax year deadline, also keep an eye on the countdown clock below. It will keep you on top of just how much time is left to make important, tax-saving moves. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

Credits/Deductions
Disasters
Family
Filing and Paying Taxes
Politics/Laws
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Tax Brackets/Inflation
Tax Tips
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