OREANDA-NEWS.  September 30, 2014. Estonia has the best tax system among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said on Tuesday citing a study by the independent U.S. tax policy research organization Tax Foundation.

"Countering criticism of tax competitiveness, the American Tax Foundation has just presented a study comparing the competitiveness of OECD countries' tax systems. It's about a different economic policy philosophy according to which tax competitiveness should be not restricted but recognized as a positive driving force," FAZ says. "In this comparison Estonia has the best tax system with a uniform low 21 percent tax rate on corporate income and individual income and without double taxation of dividend income. Germany places clearly lower in this index, in undistinguished 20th position.

"The United States ranks 32nd in the scoreboard of the Tax Foundation - just two places ahead of the last-placed France. The key factor in this is that the USA has the highest corporate income tax rate in the OECD at 39.1 percent, and that it is one out of only six countries that insists on levying tax on its companies and citizens in every corner of the world," FAZ says.