Taxes As A Percentage Of GDP

For the heck of it I wanted to see how much the Canadian and U.S. governments tax citizens as a percentage of GDP.

Canada's economy is $1.6 trillion. It pulls in about $238 billion in taxes (largely through personal income taxes).

That represents 15% (rounded up from 14.8%) of the wealth generated. Doesn't seem like much but I suppose it's all in how we collect, distribute and spend it.

The U.S. economy is $15 trillion with $2.7 trillion in taxes (note that's larger than the entire Canadian economy) translating into about 19%. 

So the U.S. seems to "tax more." Which is not surprising since it spends more on education and health on a per capita basis than any country. The U.S. probably has a bigger social safety net than Canada.