The top personal income tax rate (also levied on capital gains), the sales tax rate, the corporate tax rate, and the gas tax are all at or near the highest of any state.

In January 2005, the personal income tax rate was reduced to 24 .

Brown s ballot initiative this November would raise California s top personal income tax rate to 13.3 , the nation s highest.

CAMBRIDGE The saving rate of American households has risen sharply since the beginning of the year, reaching 6.9 of after tax personal income in May, the highest rate since 1992.

Since after tax personal income accounts for about 75 of GDP, a household saving rate of 6 translates into just 4.5 of GDP.

Finally, in addition to extending Bush s tax cuts, Romney promises an across the board 20 reduction in marginal personal income tax rates and a significant cut in the corporate rate to encourage businesses to hire more workers.

In Australia's tax system, personal and company income tax are the main sources of government revenue.

One of the most efficient tax raising methods is the US payroll tax, for which the marginal tax rate is close to the average rate (because deductions are absent and there is little graduation in the rate structure).

The payroll tax paid by employees is 6.65 (employers pay the same rate), and is in addition to the personal income tax. Moreover, because of the complex rules that govern the level of Social Security benefits, the older worker who pays this payroll tax is likely to receive no extra benefits.

In 1994, based on the economic theories of Milton Friedman, Estonia became one of the first countries to adopt a flat tax, with a uniform rate of 26 regardless of personal income.

CAMBRIDGE The saving rate of American households has risen sharply since the beginning of the year, reaching 6.9 of after tax personal income in May, the highest rate since 1992. In today s economy, that is equivalent to annual savings of 750 billion.

Instead, it reflected a fall in the personal saving rate.

Reagan s tax policies reduced the top income tax rate from 70 in 1980 to 28 in 1986.

There are many arguments for raising Japan s consumption tax rate.

The income tax rate was decreased to 21 by January 2008.

The Fair Tax Act ( ) would apply a tax, once, at the point of purchase on all new goods and services for personal consumption.

But there are not enough tax breaks for the rich to cover another 20 reduction in their income tax rate.

Yet he has never proposed comprehensive reform of either the personal or corporate income tax.

A lower corporate tax rate would weaken this justification. Moreover, pension funds, retirement plans, and non profit organizations, which receive about 50 of all corporate dividends, do not pay tax on these earnings, and would benefit from a lower corporate tax rate.

But, given that the top US marginal income tax rate is 35 , he certainly is a tax avoider on a grand scale.

Sarkozy s proposed cure is to boost growth by reducing the tax burden on employers, while simultaneously hiking the rate of value added tax.

A global externality can best be dealt with by a globally agreed tax rate.

In order to increase personal income taxes share of total revenue, developing countries are already improving their tax administrations in innovative ways, particularly to reach hard to tax citizens.

According to media reports, about 100 businesses are participating in the Economic Development Commission programme, which provides tax breaks of up to 100 per cent of personal income tax.

The corporate tax rate is a flat 18 , one of the lowest in the world.

As defined in the proposed legislation, the tax rate is 23 for the first year.

Japan s government has a huge debt burden, and its consumption tax rate is far lower than the value added tax rates that prevail in Europe.

Moreover, a high corporate tax rate is an ineffective and costly tool for producing revenues, owing to innovative financial transactions and legal tax avoidance mechanisms.

And, while raising so much revenue with so low a tax rate sounds grand, the declining volume of trades would shrink the tax base precipitously.

Instead of cutting proven tax incentives for business investment, the US should offset at least some of the revenue losses from a lower corporate tax rate by raising tax rates on corporate shareholders.

In 1994, he introduced a flat personal income tax, a policy that most Eastern European countries have since adopted.

If personal pension accounts or provident funds are invested in GDP linked bonds, the payments that retirees receive in 25 years will reflect the growth rate of the economy and that of the tax base to that date, which all makes good sense.

BERKELEY The United States now has the highest statutory corporate income tax rate among developed countries.

Indeed, cutting these items to pay for a reduction in the corporate tax rate could end up increasing the tax on corporate economic activity in the US.

To see why, consider the tax rate necessary to pay for social benefits, which equals the replacement rate (the average level of benefits relative to taxpayer incomes) multiplied by the dependency ratio (the share of the population receiving the benefits). The higher the replacement rate and or dependency ratio, the higher the tax rate needed to pay for the benefits.

Georgia s 12 flat rate income tax probably the lowest in the world has boosted the national budget.

The tax rate that achieves optimum, or highest government revenues is somewhere in between these two values.

There will also be cuts in personal income tax in the next few years in order to increase households disposable income.

Real personal consumer spending grew at a robust 4.4 rate, as spending on consumer durables soared by 21 .

That said, if the goal of corporate tax reform is to boost investment and job creation, broadening the tax base to pay for a lower rate could be counterproductive.

When Kan led the DPJ in opposition, he avoided discussing any raise in the rate of consumption tax.

Their version of tax reform would mean reducing deductions for the wealthy and corporations, with no rate reductions.

Therefore, cutting the payroll tax rate in 2011 2012 and making the rate schedule more graduated (on the Medicare side) were mistakes from the standpoint of efficient taxation.

Obama s recent statement that he favors reforming personal and corporate taxes by lowering rates and broadening the tax base reinforces that impression.

Western economists typically favor gradual tax increases Jeffrey Frankel, for example, recommends a pre announced plan to increase the tax rate by, say, one percentage point annually for five years.