Corporate income taxes (click here and here for charts):

• In 1965, U.S. corporate income taxes were 4.0% of our GDP, compared to 2.4% of GDP in the other OECD countries.
• But by 2002 U.S. corporate income taxes had dropped to 1.6% of GDP, while corporate income taxes in the other OECD countries had risen to 3.0% of GDP.
• In 2003, U.S. corporate taxes fell to only 1.5% of our GDP.

Personal income taxes:

• Personal income taxes in the United States have fallen from 10.5% of GDP in 1980 to 8.8% in 2003—a decline of 17 percent.
• In contrast, over that same period, personal income taxes in the other OECD countries have been stable as a share of GDP.

Social insurance taxes:

• Social insurance taxes and other wage taxes have risen rapidly worldwide.
• Since 1965, social insurance taxes in the U.S. have risen from 3.3% of GDP to 6.9% (in 2002).
• In the other OECD countries, social insurance and other wage taxes rose from 6.5% of GDP to 10.9%.

Sales, excise and other consumption taxes:

• Reliance on sales taxes and other consumption taxes has fallen worldwide since 1965.
• In 1965, total federal, state and local consumption taxes in the U.S. were 5.6% of GDP. By 2002, they were 4.6%.
• In the other OECD countries, consumption taxes 9.7% of GDP in 1965, and 9.5% in 2002. (Europe's replacement of cascading gross receipts taxes with value-added taxes solely on personal consumption around 1970 led to a bigger initial drop, which has since been partially reversed.)

Property & wealth taxes:

• Property and wealth taxes in the U.S. fell from 3.9% of GDP in 1965 to 2.9% by 1980, and have been stable thereafter (3.2% in 2002).
• In the other OECD countries, property and wealth taxes fell somewhat from 1965 to 1980 (from 2.2% of GDP to 1.9%), but have since risen to 2.5% of GDP in 2002.