Tax Burdens, Around the World

The New York Times reported tax burdens around the world.
According to the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United States had the fourth smallest tax burdens, at 26.9 percent, after Korea, Turkey, and Mexico.

The New York Times asks, "Think you pay a lot of taxes in the United States? Try moving to Denmark." as if we don't pay enough taxes. Do we pay enough taxes or is something wrong with the data?

The percentage of tax burden is calculated by dividing tax revenue by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If we think of the United States as a company, the GDP is the market value of all final goods and services made in a year, i.e., annual sales for the company. Tax revenue for the government is the tax amount paid by the company. OECD calculates tax burden by dividing tax expense by annual sales.

If ABC company doesn't make any profits, they don't have to pay taxes even though they have big sales. In other words, increase of GDP does not always increase tax revenue because tax amount is calculated based on profit. Just because the USA has the low percentage doesn't mean that the USA has small tax burdens.

One more point. Do you know how to calculate GDP?
According to Wikipedia, GDP is calculated as follows.

GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)

It means that the more Government spends, the more GDP increase!
The more GDP increase, the less tax burden for OECD calculation.

NY TIMES: Tax Burden, Around the World