Complaints about the economy, about competitiveness? Tax cuts would help

There's some talk of a recession going round, and various remedies proposed for a slowing economy. Odd, when the simplest thing to do to move the economy along is within the reach of nearly every legislative body in the country. (Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming are off the list.)

Thirty countries are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD. Here's a nice little table from a Tax Foundation article, U.S. States Lead the World in High Corporate Taxes, showing the tax rates for the 50 states of the US and the other countries of the OECD, ordered by rate.

What this shows is that the American economy is so robust that even in chains it is strong. Imagine what we could do if we were free!

Comparing U.S. State Corporate Taxes to the OECD

OECD Overall Rank	Country/State	Federal Rate Adjusted	Top State Corporate Tax Rate	Combined Federal and State Rate (Adjusted) (a)
	Iowa	35	12	41.6
	Pennsylvania	35	9.99	41.5
	Minnesota	35	9.8	41.4
	Massachusetts	35	9.5	41.2
	Alaska	35	9.4	41.1
	New Jersey	35	9.36	41.1
	Rhode Island	35	9	40.9
	West Virginia	35	9	40.9
	Maine	35	8.93	40.8
	Vermont	35	8.9	40.8
	California	35	8.84	40.7
	Delaware	35	8.7	40.7
	Indiana	35	8.5	40.5
	New Hampshire	35	8.5	40.5
	Wisconsin	35	7.9	40.1
	Nebraska	35	7.81	40.1
	Idaho	35	7.6	39.9
	New Mexico	35	7.6	39.9
	Connecticut	35	7.5	39.9
	New York	35	7.5	39.9
	Kansas	35	7.35	39.8
	Illinois	35	7.3	39.7
	Maryland	35	7	39.6
	North Dakota	35	7	39.6
1	Japan	30	11.56	39.54
	Arizona	35	6.968	39.5
	North Carolina	35	6.9	39.5
	Montana	35	6.75	39.4
	Oregon	35	6.6	39.3
2	United States	35	6.57	39.27
	Arkansas	35	6.5	39.2
	Tennessee	35	6.5	39.2
	*Washington	35	6.4	39.2
	Hawaii	35	6.4	39.2
3	Germany	26.38	17.0	38.9
	*Michigan	35	6	38.9
	Georgia	35	6	38.9
	Kentucky	35	6	38.9
	Oklahoma	35	6	38.9
	Virginia	35	6	38.9
	Florida	35	5.5	38.6
	Louisiana	35	8	38.5
	Missouri	35	6.25	38.4
	Ohio	35	5.1	38.3
	Mississippi	35	5	38.3
	South Carolina	35	5	38.3
	Utah	35	5	38.3
	Colorado	35	4.63	38.0
	Alabama	35	6.5	37.8
4	Canada	22.1	14	36.1
	*Texas	35	1.6	36.0
	Nevada	35	0	35.0
	South Dakota	35	0	35.0
	Wyoming	35	0	35.0
5	France	34.43	0	34.4
6	Belgium	33.99	0	33.99
7	Italy	33	0	33
8	New Zealand	33	0	33
9	Spain	32.5	0	32.5
10	Luxembourg	22.88	7.5	30.38
11	Australia	30	0	30
12	United Kingdom	30	0	30
13	Mexico	28	0	28
14	Norway	28	0	28
15	Sweden	28	0	28
16	Korea	25	2.5	27.5
17	Portugal	25	1.5	26.5
18	Finland	26	0	26
19	Netherlands	25.5	0	25.5
20	Austria	25	0	25
21	Denmark	25	0	25
22	Greece	25	0	25
23	Czech Republic	24	0	24
24	Switzerland	8.50	14.64	21.32
25	Hungary	20	0	20
26	Turkey	20	0	20
27	Poland	19	0	19
28	Slovak Republic	19	0	19
29	Iceland	18	0	18
30	Ireland	12.5	0	12.5
*Michigan, Texas and Washington have gross receipts taxes rather than traditional corporate income taxes. For comparison purposes, we converted the gross receipts taxes into an effective CIT rate. See footnote 2 for methodology.
(a) Combined rate adjusted for federal deduction of state taxes paid

See who's on the bottom of the list: The Celtic Tiger, Ireland. Now instead of Irish young people seeking jobs in the USA, we meet Irish businessmen looking to buy castles in the USA.

From TaxProf, where there are comments, by way of Glenn Reynolds.