Bruce Bartlett had the inspired idea to compare total international tax burdens — that is to say, state, local and federal taxes in a host of countries — with the total international tax burden plus private health-care spending. Here are his results in graph form:
“Looking at taxes alone,” writes Bartlett, “the burden in the United States is 25 percent below the O.E.C.D. average, but including the additional health costs Americans pay, the United States is just 4.7 percent below average. In short, a substantial portion of the higher tax burden that Europeans pay is really illusory. They are really just paying their health insurance premiums through their taxes rather than through lower wages, as we do.”
Related:
The hard truth about government health care is that it works.
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