2009 Top 10 Freest Economies : Heritage Foundation Report

The Heritage Foundation in conjunction with The Wall Street Journal has released their 2009 Index of Economic Freedom report. The report covers 183 countries across 10 specific freedoms such as Business Freedom, Trade Freedom, Fiscal Freedom, Government Size, Monetary Freedom, Investment Freedom, Financial Freedom, Property Rights, Freedom from Corruption, and Labour Freedom.

For the 15th year in a row the freest economy belongs to Hong Kong. Here are the top 10:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Australia
4. Ireland
5. New Zealand
6. United States
7. Canada
8. Denmark
9. Switzerland
10. United Kingdom

The United States dropped a spot in the rankings this year. I was not surprised (although disappointed) to see the United States scores for government size and fiscal freedom below the average. Here is what the report had to say about the U.S. in terms of fiscal freedom:

U.S. tax rates are burdensome. Both the top income tax rate and the top corporate tax rate are 35 percent. Other taxes include a property tax, an estate tax, and excise taxes, and additional income and sales taxes are assessed at the state and local levels. In the most recent year, overall tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 28.2 percent.

The bottom 5 countries (no real surprise) were as follows:

175. Eritrea
176. Burma
177. Cuba
178. Zimbabwe
179. North Korea

You can access the complete list of countries here.

2008 Top 10 Freest Economies : Heritage Foundation Report

Hong Kong still No. 1

Hong Kong tops again in economic freedom report

Cathay Pacific to ground freighters