April 15, 2007
Russian Taxes
In an eerie combination of my last two posts: Tax Day Coffee Smelling and Contest for Survival, I stumbled across this piece on something called RussiaBlog.org that ranks the tax burdens of major developed nations. (Scroll down to "Avenir Corporate's Survey of World Individual Tax Freedom.")
In first place, with a 13 percent flat tax, is Russia. The American middle class pays almost twice this at 22.1 percent, while the upper middle class pays a whopping 35.2 percent to the redistribution mill.
In Russia the individual is left with a record 87% of his income, to be used in accordance with the person’s own preferences. Also taking into consideration the low cost of utilities in Russia; free education; free or inexpensive health care; and the comparatively low level of other mandatory costs, we may conclude that in Russia a middle class person in reality is free to decide on his own discretion how to dispose of his income and how to live.
Ahh, those were the days, weren't they yanks?
Economics and Markets Posted by JohnGalt at April 15, 2007 9:41 PM
You might be interested to know that while Russia's tax burden was lower than America's, its inflation rate was ten times higher. What's more, an average Russian lived 10 fewer years than an average American, and his average wage was 10 times less than that of an American. Still thinking of moving to Russia?
You might also be interested to know that the author of the piece you cite works for the company that provided the "data" about tax burden, and his job is to convince foreigners to invest in Russia.
Finally, you might want to know that the piece is full of outrageous lies, documented here:
http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/04/outrageous-lies-from-russia-blog-just.html
Posted by: La Russophobe at April 19, 2007 4:58 PMRussophobe's comment could well be a form comment so the fact that I never advocated "moving to Russia" can be excused. I do appreciate the comment and it's specific critique of the dark underbelly of the modern Russian economy. As I read the post I cited, and a couple others on the site, I sensed a 'blog for hire' mentality. That's why I referred to it as "something called" RussiaBlog.org.
My main point for this "oh, by the way" posting was that even in the organized crime state of modern Russia they understand the economic value of low, flat, tax rates.
Your blog looks excellent. I will add it to the few that I regularly peruse. I've become much more interested in happenings there since the anti-Putin movement turned up the pressure, as highlighted in my earlier posting "Contest for Survival" on which I'm also interested in Russophobe's commentary.
Posted by: johngalt at April 20, 2007 3:20 PM | What do you think? [2]