U.S. Tax Revenue In Context

The following charts show U.S. tax revenues as a percentage of GDP among the member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and historically as a percentage of GDP in the United States. The first chart shows that the United States has the third lowest tax burden of all developing countries. The only nations with a lower tax burden are Mexico and Chile, which provide a significantly lower quality of public goods and services to their citizens than the United States--especially when one considers defense spending. The second chart shows that as a percentage of GDP tax revenues in the United States are lower than at any point in the past 40 years.

Source: "Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in the developed world"