And Now, Everyone's Favourite Topic: Taxes!

If someone asked you to guess what % of Canada's Gross Domestic Product is comprised of tax revenues, what would you say? Most of us probably wouldn't even fully understand the question (myself included) because we're not all that well-educated in such macro financial terms. But I think many Canadians would respond from a gut level indignant perspective of "our taxes are way too high" and say, "Whatever it is, we're worse [meaning higher] than just about any other civilized country!"

Consider, however, the following chart, which I found in this 538.com article (click to enlarge for greater readability):



Note that Canada actually falls below average in terms of what % of our GDP comes from tax revenues (11th of 30 similar countries, in economic developmental terms). We're obviously not the "taxation Hell" that many residents perceive us to be, at least on a relative scale. That probably won't do much to calm down the tax-haters, but then again: nothing would. If our tax rate were magically cut in half tomorrow without losing any services as a result, many of those same people would be right back complaining about the new tax rate a year or two later. As the saying goes, "It's not about the money... it's the principle of the thing!"