From Mankiw's blog: Taxes/GDP x GDP/Person = Taxes/Person Here are the results for some of the largest developed nations: France .461 x 33,744 = 15,556 Germany .406 x 34,219 = 13,893 UK .390 x 35,165 = 13,714 US .282 x 46,443 = 13,097 Canada .334 x 38,290 = 12,789 Italy .426 x 29,290 = 12,478 Spain .373 x 29,527 = 11,014 Japan .274 x 32,817 = 8,992 The bottom line: The United States is indeed a low-tax country as judged by taxes as a percentage of GDP, but as judged by taxes per person, the United States is in the middle of the pack.