The Social Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation - A Comparison of High-

broadly between low- and high-tax countries, we highlight the social and economic outcomes in In contrast to the United States, Finland ranks the United States and ask: should Canadians re- near the top of the industrialized world on each ally want their country to become more like the of the following social indicators: United States? To provide some basis for com- • The percentage of the populat. [...] The average for the five the family and church play a large role in meet- low-tax countries is about 29%; the average for ing the needs of citizens; and 4) “social demo- the five high-tax countries is 47%, almost 60% cratic welfare states,” basically the Scandinavian greater than the low-tax countries. [...] On average, in the low-taxed Anglo-Amer- ican countries, 15.9% of children live in pover- Social Goals ty, while in the Nordic countries the percent- age of children living in poverty is less than Relief of Poverty one-quarter of the Anglo-American average, Relief of poverty is an important goal in every less than 3.3%. [...] In Finland, by contrast, social cohesion; they lead to worse health and the richest 10% receive only 5.6 times as much of personal security outcomes; they lead to the the national income as the poorest 10%, about withdrawal of the haves from the life of the one-third the American multiple. [...] more prosperous than are those with less eco- Many sociologists investigating the nature nomic freedom.” Somewhat surprisingly, even of social capital and the role it plays in society though high taxes are taken as an indication of have suggested that trade unions are one of the the lack of economic freedom in the compila- most important organizations in society for the tion of the index, the aver.