U.S. Election Chart Of The Week – Tax Rates

Presidential candidate Joe Biden has been adamant on raising corporate and personal tax rates if elected in November.  However, there has been a global trend to reduce corporate tax rates and become more competitive.

According to the Tax Database from OECD, 18 of 33 countries have lowered statutory corporate tax rates in the last 10 years.  Most notably, the U.S. significantly lowered corporate tax rates in 2018 from 35% to 21%.

Only six countries including Portugal, Turkey, South Korea, Chile, Slovak Republic, and Iceland have raised tax rates in the last 10 years.  Former Vice-President Joe Biden would plan to join this group by potentially raising the statutory corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.  If the tax rate was to increase to 28%, the U.S. would have one of the highest relative tax rates according to the Tax Database from OECD.  More specifically, a 28% tax rate would make it tied for the 4^th highest tax rate out of 33 countries, where only Australia, France, Portugal, and Mexico have higher tax rates.

Switzerland, Hungary, and Ireland have the lowest corporate tax rates at 8.5%, 9%, and 13% respectively.  Hungary lowered its corporate tax rate from 19% to 9% in 2017.