I would argue that the overall tax burden to the government is not all that different. Income tax rates are higher in Europe, 37% in the US at my top tier and about 47% in Europe at the same top tier. However, the US has a lot of hidden taxes, and a whole lot of corporate parasitism which functions as a tax
Of course! On a house we could purchase in France, the property tax will be around $1300€. I pay $4000 in the US, up from $1800 in 2021.
The $4000 in the US surprisingly doesn’t actually cover anything. My city charges my around $75 monthly for trash service. I also have a county solid waste fee to pay. Last year I replaced my air conditioning, and the county permit to do this was $500. I am lucky because some cities require an HVAC technician licensed in that city, which obviously charge a big premium. My electricity company, a monopoly in my area, charges $26 each month in state maintenance fund fees and delivery charges, separate from my electricity consumption. What are these?
My home insurance is also around $4000, and is required by my mortgage. There is unfortunately only one provider in my area, and they include policy disclaimers that they may not be able to pay claims at all, and that I can’t sue them if they are insolvent. They raise their rate about 25% per year.
My car insurance also consistently raises rates by double digit percentages, but they do it quietly by simply “auto renewing” at the increased amount. This is without accidents or tickets, and a vehicle which is another year older.
VAT is 20% in France, but is included in the prices at the grocery store, and not included on essential food items. In my area in the US, we owe 7% sales tax on essential items.
Speaking of my grocery store in the US, it is essentially a monopoly and they charge outrageous prices for many things because they can. The nearest health clinic to my house in the US is owned by private equity, and a visit with some routine scans and lab work will precipitate an array of invoices from random medical billing offices all over the country, for seemingly random amounts.
As someone who has lived in a number of different countries as an expat over the years, the US is unique in the scale of the day to day extraction. Living in an apartment, from my experience, is far worse in the US. Things like COVID sanitization fee $500, mandatory parcel hold service, $29, mandatory trash concierge, $29, community utilities, $50, deposit insurance $299, etc etc etc. Everything is an unregulated opportunity to extract. You can sue for really egregious things and outright fraud, but it costs $75 to do that, plus you have to pay a private process server to start the lawsuit. Do you have time to do that for everything?
The true state of the way things are in America should be a warning for Europeans to avoid going down that path. Our federal income tax is lower in the US, but we have significant tax bills due at the many levels of government from neighborhood, municipality, county, and state. Maybe it is less than 10% of some people’s income, but not most people.
*income taxes are lower in America
I would argue that the overall tax burden to the government is not all that different. Income tax rates are higher in Europe, 37% in the US at my top tier and about 47% in Europe at the same top tier. However, the US has a lot of hidden taxes, and a whole lot of corporate parasitism which functions as a tax
So tell me. What are those hidden taxes?
What type of corporate parasitism are you referring to that hurts Americans more than Europeans?
Of course! On a house we could purchase in France, the property tax will be around $1300€. I pay $4000 in the US, up from $1800 in 2021.
The $4000 in the US surprisingly doesn’t actually cover anything. My city charges my around $75 monthly for trash service. I also have a county solid waste fee to pay. Last year I replaced my air conditioning, and the county permit to do this was $500. I am lucky because some cities require an HVAC technician licensed in that city, which obviously charge a big premium. My electricity company, a monopoly in my area, charges $26 each month in state maintenance fund fees and delivery charges, separate from my electricity consumption. What are these?
My home insurance is also around $4000, and is required by my mortgage. There is unfortunately only one provider in my area, and they include policy disclaimers that they may not be able to pay claims at all, and that I can’t sue them if they are insolvent. They raise their rate about 25% per year.
My car insurance also consistently raises rates by double digit percentages, but they do it quietly by simply “auto renewing” at the increased amount. This is without accidents or tickets, and a vehicle which is another year older.
VAT is 20% in France, but is included in the prices at the grocery store, and not included on essential food items. In my area in the US, we owe 7% sales tax on essential items.
Speaking of my grocery store in the US, it is essentially a monopoly and they charge outrageous prices for many things because they can. The nearest health clinic to my house in the US is owned by private equity, and a visit with some routine scans and lab work will precipitate an array of invoices from random medical billing offices all over the country, for seemingly random amounts.
As someone who has lived in a number of different countries as an expat over the years, the US is unique in the scale of the day to day extraction. Living in an apartment, from my experience, is far worse in the US. Things like COVID sanitization fee $500, mandatory parcel hold service, $29, mandatory trash concierge, $29, community utilities, $50, deposit insurance $299, etc etc etc. Everything is an unregulated opportunity to extract. You can sue for really egregious things and outright fraud, but it costs $75 to do that, plus you have to pay a private process server to start the lawsuit. Do you have time to do that for everything?
The true state of the way things are in America should be a warning for Europeans to avoid going down that path. Our federal income tax is lower in the US, but we have significant tax bills due at the many levels of government from neighborhood, municipality, county, and state. Maybe it is less than 10% of some people’s income, but not most people.
It was nice to learn of all this bullshit. Thank you.