How much Taxation is Enough? (HINT: More than we pay now!)

If you're a member of the Tea Party, you believe you're "Taxed Enough Already."

If you're marching in Madison, you might be asking to have your taxes raised!

In either case, there is disagreement over what constitutes an acceptable level of taxation.  If we compare the longitudinal taxation strategies of three nations, The United States, Denmark and Sweden, what will we find?  Clearly, these countries have pursued different strategies of taxation.

The US has maintained a 25% overall taxation level since 1960 but both Sweden and Denmark have

In a new blog post, Lane Kenworthy asks the question

If heavy taxation has harmful economic effects, why have Denmark and Sweden performed similarly to the United States during a period of several decades in which their taxes were much higher than America’s?

Turns out that by most measures, the high-tax nations fare as well as the US, and by some measures, fare better.  The distribution of income and the growth of the P50 population is perhaps the most interesting divergence between the US and the Danes and Swedes.

The truly progressive taxation systems of Sweden and Denmark ensure that nobody is too poor and nobody is too rich.  And everyone gets healthcare.