FYI: Perspective: U.S. Has the Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World

Kevin Glass | Dec 27, 2013

Over the last 25 years, every country in the developed world has made significant strides in lowering the corporate tax rate - except for the United States. The good people at Economics 21 put together a handy chart to illustrate this:

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The corporate tax rate is the worst tax in the entire tax code. It stifles growth and innovation and does little to combat inequality. It's taken out of the paychecks of workers and investors, not CEOs or profits.

In a just world, America's corporate tax code would have fallen faster than Western Europe's. There is much work to be done.

Over the last 25 years, most industrialized countries have lowered their corporate tax rates. Global capital is increasingly mobile, and corporations seek lower-tax localities.

The United States has refused to follow this trend. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), our combined federal and state corporate income tax rate actually increased from 25 years ago, from 38.6 to 39.1 percent.

The average federal and state corporate tax rate in the countries that comprise the OECD declined 42 percent since 1988. Countries such as Ireland (-73 percent), Sweden (-61 percent), and Germany (-50 percent) all saw above-average declines.