Taxes in Greece

A New York Times editorial today on the Greek fisc reports, "Now the truth, and its consequences, must be faced: Corruption and tax evasion hobble the Greek economy. Millions work off the books. The private sector generates too few jobs and tax revenues, and one in four Greeks works for the state. It is a system designed to produce deficits." One might wonder -- the Times editorial, strangely, doesn't say -- just what is the marginal individual income tax rate in Greece that drives workers off the books and prompts tax evasion, while retarding job creation? Why, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's tax database, it's 40% -- or well below what the Times editorials have been suggestion will usher in some kind of progressive utopia here in America.