Manhattan Moment: America is losing the Tax Olympics
Opinion,Op-Eds,Olympics,Taxes,Manhattan Moment,Sochi  America is
performing well in the Sochi Olympics, but how would the medal
count differ if countries competed on taxes rather than winter
sports?  In a competition based on corporate tax rates, the
United States would come in last out of the 34 Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Taking state
and federal taxes into account, the U.S. top rate is 39 percent
-- 50 percent higher than the OECD average and triple Ireland's
gold medal-winning rate of 12.5 percent.  Thankfully, the United
States is playing Canada in the men's hockey semifinals Friday
and not competing over corporate tax rates. If this were the
case, America would not bring home the gold. Canada's combined
state and federal corporate tax rate is just 26 percent. So much
for writing off our “socialist” neighbors to the north.  The
United States would have been far more competitive in the late
1980s, when its rate was