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Politics : Mainstream Politics and Economics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (46412)	6/20/2013 11:41:56 AM
From: sm1th	1 Recommendation Recommended By Brumar89 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85487

List of countries by tax revenue as percentage of GDP The US numbers in that aren't even close. Federal alone is about 24% currently, total is close to 40%

To: Road Walker who wrote (46412)	6/20/2013 12:11:29 PM
From: Brumar89	1 Recommendation Recommended By TimF Respond to of 85487

Zimbabwe #1 at 49.3%. Thanks for the tip.

To: Road Walker who wrote (46412)	6/20/2013 11:36:37 PM
From: i-node	4 Recommendations Recommended By Bill greenspirit Paul Smith TimF Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 85487

>> List of countries by tax revenue as percentage of GDP There are a couple of points worth mentioning. First, tax revenue as a percent of GDP is meaningless. If you want a figure that actually represents the size and scope of government, you'll have to take (tax revenue + debt) / gdp, which really gives a different result. You'll find the US is way up there. Worse, debt as a percent of gdp excludes the REAL debt of SS and Medicare unfunded liabilities which make us easily the worst in the list. But your premise is all wrong to begin with -- the idea that government should grow proportionately with population. I cannot think of a worse indicator of a government's health -- that every time the country grows a little, government should grow proportionately. Worse still, the cost of our government has grown disproportionately with population. As population grows, government bureaucracy grows at a faster pace. Even 50 years ago, government jobs were considered to be secure -- but lesser paying than those in private enterprise. Which is as it should be. Today, we pay government employees more than those same employees could make in the marketplace. Surely, you recognize that as an utterly absurd situation. It is a recipe for disaster to have government employees making more than their counterparts in private enterprise. You end up with your best and brightest people working for the least productive sector. If someone wants the security of a government job they ought be paid less than someone who has to face the trials of having to be successful at what they do (in the private sector, where they will be fired for nonperformance).