I’m not really suggesting it does. It’s just that I found this graphic to be pretty eye-catching:
From this CEPR PDF, “An International Comparison of Small Business Employment”.
Notice the top (five out of) six. Also that the “America as the land of the independent entrepreneur” meme seems profoundly misplaced.
I don’t have much more to say about this, except 1. I’ve read that tax compliance in Greece is (among) the worst in the EU (and indies can cheat a lot easier than employees) and 2. The PIIGS share another key characteristic: they don’t control their own monetary policy; they can’t print Euros.
Comments
4 responses to “Does Self-Employment Cause Government Deficits?”
On the other hand, self-employment makes tax evasion easier, which in turn reduces tax collections.
@Mike Kimel
Yeah: “I’ve read that tax compliance in Greece is (among) the worst in the EU (and indies can cheat a lot easier than employees)”
Chart looks really familiar – think I saw it over at RWER a while back. To repeat the polemic I put there (wherever): Teabagger policy – to make us into a nation of small shop-keepers and petite entrepreneurs who pay no taxes – is to endorse Greek practices. They just don’t know it.
@Dave Raithel “Teabagger policy – to make us into a nation of small shop-keepers and petite entrepreneurs who pay no taxes – is to endorse Greek practices.”
Zactly. Since they can’t really pull of eradicating all taxes, they strongly approve of people breaking the tax laws. Weird given that they’re supposedly big law ‘n order types…