How much tax do Americans pay?

Guide: What is the tax in the United States?

In developed countries, the overall tax revenue of the United States is not high compared with other countries. According to the 20 15 index published by the American Heritage Foundation, the total tax revenue of the United States only accounts for 26.9% of GDP, which is close to that of Japan and South Korea, but lower than that of immigrant countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and far lower than that of European countries with high welfare such as France and Germany.

Source: Heritage Foundation (20 15).

What taxes are there in the United States? Who will collect the tax?

If we only look at the tax names, the main taxes in the United States are similar to those in China. There are personal income tax, corporate income tax, social security tax, medical insurance tax, consumption tax, sales tax, property tax and customs duties.

Source: President's budget for fiscal year 20 15.

Among them, social security tax and medical insurance tax are taxes that employees and enterprises need to bear when paying wages, so they are often collectively referred to as "payroll tax", which is similar to China's "three insurances and one fund" (pension insurance, medical insurance and unemployment insurance), but Americans honestly say that this is a tax, and there is no such thing as a child.

Personal income tax and enterprise income tax are based on individuals or enterprises, and the income after deducting deductible items from all annual income is the object of taxation, and both adopt progressive tax rates. In personal income tax, the progressive tax rate of ordinary income is 10% to 39.6% (5% to 45% in China), the progressive tax rate of capital gains tax is 0 to 20% (20% in China), and the progressive tax rate of corporate income tax is 15% to 35% (25% in China).

On the question of "who will pay taxes", there are great differences between the United States and China. This is related to the federal system in the United States. The United States can tax you from the federal government to states, counties, cities and even ISD (Independent School District), but it is the same everywhere except the federal tax. In different regions, you will face different tax rates and even new taxes. The collection unit of federal tax is the Internal Revenue Service, which belongs to the US Treasury Department.

What if I don't know who to pay taxes to? Don't worry, as long as you start a company, buy a house or go to work in one place, the local tax unit will send you a "tax notice" or "collection letter" at the first time or tax season. What's even more funny is that these local tax bureaus usually take a very tall name like the "IRS" of the federal tax bureau, such as the auditor-general of Texas public accounts in Texas. New york is called the Department of Taxation and Finance, and Massachusetts is called the Department of Revenue. Therefore, it is also a problem to choose where to stay in the United States.

There are several states that do not collect personal income tax (but still pay federal tax): Texas, Nevada, Washington and Florida. The tax rate of the highest state in new york, the favorite place for China people, is as high as 6.85%, and the tax rate of the highest state in California is 13.3%.

B: What's the difference between individual tax payment and tax return in America? Why is it so important to file tax returns?

In the United States, in addition to the social insurance tax similar to China's three insurances and one gold, the personal income tax is also withheld and remitted, but in fact, the overpaid part can be returned through the annual tax return, which is the so-called "tax refund". Therefore, the American Tax Return is called tax return, and the literal translation is tax refund.

In fact, the withholding of American tax runs through many fields, and some of your income may be withheld and remitted by the payer unconsciously. Therefore, it is necessary to collect various forms from many taxpayers and then add them to their own tax refund forms for unified declaration.

Therefore, the annual tax return that China does not have is very important to every taxpayer in the United States, and the primary purpose is to refund the tax.

As for the time point of personal tax return, you just need to remember that the deadline for personal tax return is April 15 in the United States and June 15 overseas. If it is too late, you can submit a form (Form 4868) to the IRS and postpone it to 65438+ 10/5.