Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the World Bank Group released their 2008 “Paying Taxes” publication earlier this week. The study compares tax regimes from around the world using three indicators (number of tax payments, time spent paying taxes, and total tax rate). According to the Executive Summary “corporate income taxes only account for 37% of the Total Tax Rate, 26% if the number of hours spent on tax compliance and 12% of the number of tax payments made.”

The United States ranks 102nd out of 178 countries on total tax rate. Countries with lower tax burden’s than the U.S. include: Singapore (14), Hong Kong (15), Chile (18), Ireland (23), and Switzerland (24). Countries with higher tax burden’s than the U.S. include: France (175), Italy (164), China (163), Russia (131), and Mexico (127).